TRIAL DIESEL IMPORT FROM INDIA : Dhaka to spend 60pc more for transport, other charges

Bangladesh is set to spend 60 per cent more on transport, insurance and other costs to import diesel from India in a ‘goodwill gesture’ than it spends to import from the countries in the Middle East and Eastern Asia.
State-run Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation is scheduled for Saturday to import 2,200 tonnes or 18,600 barrels of diesel from Shiliguri oil depot in the Indian province of Asam through rail link on a trial basis, said BPC director Mosleh Uddin.
The diesel carrying train will travel nearly 160 km from Shiliguri in India to Parbatipur in Bangladesh.
Numaligarh Refinery Limited, a subsidiary of India’s state-run Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited, will realise US$7 from BPC for supplying each barrel of diesel as premium covering transport cost, insurance and evaporation losses, Mosleh Uddin said.
BPC, however, spends US$4.4 as premium for the import of each barrel of diesel from Kuwait, United Arab Emirates and Oman, Turkey and a number of East Asian countries including China, Malaysia, Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia and Brunei under government-to-government deals, said officials.
They also said that the premium would be much less if diesel was imported though tenders.
The maiden consignment is treated as a ‘goodwill gesture’ between two neighbouring nations before Bangladesh begins importing up to one million tonnes of diesel a year through a 130km pipeline from NRL, they added.
When asked, Mosleh Uddin said the premium for diesel import through pipeline would be much lower
than that of the current consignment.
He also said that an Indian delegation is scheduled to visit Dhaka next month to finalise the premium for diesel export to Bangladesh.
After finalising the premium, BPC would initiate a project to set up a 125km pipeline, costing nearly Tk 600 crore, to connect NRL with Parbatipur oil depot. The Indian authorities would set up another five KM pipeline on their side.
In April 2015, BPC and NRL signed a memorandum of understanding for trans-border energy trade.
On Saturday, prime minister’s energy adviser Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury and state minister for power, energy and mineral resources Nasrul Hamid would receive the supply at Parbatipur oil depot.
The diesel carrying train is set to be flagged off from Siliguri in India by India’s state minister for petroleum and natural gas Dharmendra Pradhan.

News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net