Bangladesh has adequate fuel stocks for May, now focusing on June supply: state minister

State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Aninda Islam Amit says Bangladesh now holds the largest stock of refined fuel in its history, while assuring that demand in April and May can be fully met despite disruption to crude oil imports due to the conflict in the Middle East.

Speaking while visiting the Easter Refinery Limited (ERL) in Chattogram’s Patenga on Friday, Amit said the government had already secured supplies to meet fuel demand over the next two months and was now working to prepare for June.

“I can say with full responsibility and with pride that something that has never happened in Bangladesh’s history has happened now -- we currently have the highest stock of refined fuel in the country’s history,” he said at the country's only state-owned oil refining facility.

Referring to international concern over fuel supplies, he said Bangladesh also had jet fuel reserves equivalent to six weeks of demand.

“Our fuel demand for April and May has already been secured and is in a confirmed supply line. Taking that into account, I can say the Bangladesh government has the full capacity to meet demand in April and May,” he said.

“Now that we have been able to ensure that, we are working mainly to meet the needs of June.”

The state minister said ERL refines around 1.5 million tonnes of crude oil a year on average, with most of its crude coming from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

He said the scheduled crude shipments for January and February had arrived as planned, but import schedules for March and April were disrupted after the Middle East crisis began on Feb 28.

The government has also been trying to secure both refined fuel and crude oil from alternative sources, according to him.

He said one cargo had already been purchased, though the supplier failed to deliver it on time, and added that two more crude cargoes were now on standby.

“We expect one cargo ship to arrive in the latter half of this month."

He acknowledged that ERL’s production capacity had been affected for the time being, but said the government had increased imports of refined fuel to ensure supply was not disrupted even if the refinery could not run at full capacity.

Amit also said the current pause had created an opportunity to carry out long-overdue maintenance work at two units of the refinery.

As the ERL operates throughout the year, regular maintenance has become difficult, according to him.

“We are finishing the maintenance work during this period so that when crude oil arrives at the end of this month, we can run the Eastern Refinery at full capacity.”