Test report of Russian sample oil to take a week
Bangladesh
The sample of Russian fuel oil has been taken from Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) to Eastern Refinery Limited, the sole state-owned oil refinery in Chattogram, for testing.
"It will take about a week to complete all tests," a senior official of Eastern Refinery told The Business Standard on Thursday, requesting not to be named.
"The intern refiners have to test if the ingredients in the Russian crude oil are compatible with the machines here. Once all the tests are over, the final reports will be handed over to BPC," he added.
Earlier, about 50 litres of sample fuel oil from Russia arrived at the Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka, said BPC.
A senior BPC official, on condition of anonymity, told TBS that the sample has been sent by the Rosneft Oil Company, which is a Russian integrated energy company. The sample has been delivered through a postal company named Difutr OU.
Talking about the progress on Russian fuel import, Khalid Ahmed, director (Operations and Planning) of BPC, said that they are still analysing the pros and cons of the proposals that include freight cost and load point of the fuel.
"Even if the government decides to import Russian fuel, it won't be possible to receive it before next January as the import schedule is occupied till December with the existing suppliers," he further added.
Currently, the BPC imports refined fuel from eight countries – Kuwait, Malaysia, the UAE, China, Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore and India.
The BPC received proposals from various companies regarding the import of oil from Russia. The corporation initially selected three companies, said the BPC official.
A discussion is underway with the ministry and the companies in this regard, he added.
Due to the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine, the price of fuel oil has increased in the global market.
However, the price of Russian oil dropped following the US-led western countries' sanctions on Russia. In this situation, various countries, including India and China, are buying oil from Russia at a low price.
Amid this, Russia also offered Bangladesh to buy its crude oil in March and refined oil last May.
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