Eastern Refinery to remain closed for 35 days
Fuel shortage resulting from the shutdown unlikely
The sole state-run oil refinery Eastern Refinery Limited will be closed for 35 days for its overhauling.
The shutdown will begin on November 16 as all the units of the company will be under maintenance during this period, said Md Akhtarul Haque, the managing director of the Eastern Refinery – a company of the Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC).
Besides, larger parts of the machineries will be opened up for cleaning and old parts of oil refineries will be replaced with new ones during this time, according to him.
"It is a scheduled shutdown for overhaul every two years. We notify the BPC to keep sufficient reserves of fuel oil beforehand. We usually go forward with the shutdown after we receive the approval of the BPC. So, there will be no shortage of fuel," he said.
According to the BPC, there is a daily demand of around 800 tonnes of octane, 800 tonnes of petrol and 11,000 tonnes of diesel in the country.
The BPC has a reserve capacity of around 13 lakh tonnes of fuel oil, including six lakh tonnes of diesel.
At present, the BPC has 5.35 Lakh tonnes of diesel, 16,000 tonnes of octane and 2.10 lakh tonnes of crude diesel. Besides, 2.4 Lakh tonnes of diesel, 20,000 tonnes of jet fuel and 40,000 tonnes of furnace oil (crude) are coming from abroad this month.
Therefore, a shortage of fuel oil resulting from the shutdown of the Eastern Refinery is unlikely, according to the BPC.
