Chattogram: MT Fossil, carrying 1,00,000 tons of crude oil, arrived at the outer anchorage of Chattogram Port. Panama-flag carrier MT Fossil sailed from Fujairah Port, UAE, and reached the outer anchorage early today, a senior official of the Bangladesh Shipping Corporation (BSC) said. This marks the second shipment of crude to Bangladesh since the war in the Middle East began.
According to Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha, Eastern Refinery, the lone state-owned oil refinery, produces 16 types of oil products including LPG, petrol, octane, kerosene, diesel, and furnace oil from crude oil. The crude oil distillation unit of Eastern Refinery was temporarily closed on April 12 due to depleted crude oil stocks. However, during this period, ships carrying large quantities of refined diesel and octane from Singapore and Malaysia arrived at the port, swiftly resolving the fuel crisis.
Eastern Refinery General Manager (Operations and Planning) Md. Mustafizur Rahman indicated that MT Fossil has reached the outer anchorage and the lightering process is underway. Port officials stated that after customs formalities and surveyor company procedures, the process of transferring the crude oil to Eastern Refinery in Patenga will commence.
A vessel named ‘Nordics Pollux’, loaded with 100,000 tonnes of crude oil, is stranded at Ras Tanura port in eastern Saudi Arabia due to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. The loading of 100,000 tonnes of crude oil on another ship at Yanbu Port of Saudi Arabia on May 30 has been finalized. This initiative was taken to secure an alternative source of crude oil from Yanbu port on the Red Sea coast of Saudi Arabia.
MT Ninemia, with more than 100,000 tonnes of crude, anchored at Chattogram Port on April 21 and successfully unloaded the oil at the Eastern Refinery in Patenga on May 6. The state-owned Eastern Refinery refines 1.5 million tonnes of crude oil annually, meeting about 20 percent of the country’s annual demand of 7.2 million tonnes.
Nearly 92 percent of the country’s fuel oil is imported to meet its needs, with the remaining 8 percent obtained from local sources and condensate processing. Diesel remains the most in-demand fuel, followed by furnace oil, petrol, octane, kerosene, and jet fuel. In the 2024-2025 fiscal year, BPC sold 6.835 million tonnes of fuel.