Ships carrying 26,000 tonnes of octane, furnace oil en route to Chattogram amid supply concerns

Efforts will be made to unload the fuel rapidly once the vessels arrive at the port, an official says

Amid concerns over fuel supply due to the conflict in the Middle East, two vessels carrying refined octane and furnace oil are en route to Chittagong Port.

Secretary Syed Refayet Hamim said the vessel MT Central Star, carrying 26,000 tonnes of refined octane from Malaysia, is scheduled to arrive at the port’s outer anchorage on Tuesday night.

An official from the Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) also confirmed that another vessel, MT Eastern Queens, is expected to reach the port waters on Wednesday with 25,000 tonnes of furnace oil.

The official noted that once the two ships arrive at the port, immediate measures will be taken to ensure the swift discharge of their cargo.

Previously, two other vessels arrived at Chittagong Port on Friday and Saturday carrying 61,000 tonnes of refined diesel.

Bangladesh has an average annual fuel requirement of 6.5 to 6.8 million tonnes. While 20 percent of this demand is met by importing crude oil from Middle Eastern countries, the remaining requirement is fulfilled through refined oil imports from seven nations, including Singapore, China, India, Indonesia, and Malaysia.

According to data from the BPC, the national demand for diesel this April is around 400,000 tonnes.

There are further plans to import an additional 325,000 tonnes of diesel later this month.