Jet fuel crisis averted with urgent move, for now

The shortage of aviation fuel has temporarily eased, with 22,000 tonnes from international supplier PetroChina expected to arrive today.

Officials of the Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) said the demand for the next 15 days can be met with the new fuel. However, due to the dollar crisis, they think the crisis may re-emerge  in the future.

Anupam Barua, director (marketing) of the BPC, said as of yesterday, their jet fuel stocks matched the demand until 31 December.

The newly scheduled supply, initially set for 26 December, faced a delay for "some reasons" and is now anticipated to reach the country on 29 December, he said.

A top Energy Division official, however, said jet fuel reserves had declined as several international suppliers suspended scheduled deliveries due to unpaid dues. The new supply is arriving after international suppliers were urgently paid $10 million to address the situation, he said.

According to a BPC report, as of December 12, the corporation owed five international suppliers a total of $296 million, including Unipec ($42.44 million), Vitol ($105.08 million), ENOC ($14.40 million), BSP ($70.48 million), PTLCL ($48.28 million), and PetroChina ($15.28 million). 

Unipec and PC SG (PetroChina) have warned that they will not supply fuel in the future without receiving their dues.

Padma Oil Company Limited, responsible for jet fuel management and airport supplies on behalf of BPC, informed them in a letter on 24 December that they had only 9,021 tonnes of jet fuel in stock, sufficient to meet demand until 29 December. 

The letter recommended an urgent import of 15,000 tonnes of aircraft fuel by then and requested measures to import 45,500 to 50,000 tonnes of jet fuel for each month of January and February.

In November, Padma Oil Company data showed the sale of 45,235 tonnes of jet fuel, while a BPC report indicated 22,759 tonnes in the first 16 days of December. WIth this, the average daily demand for jet fuel in the country is 1,510 tonnes.

A senior BPC official assured that there would be no issue with fuel supply today, emphasising that it will reach the country on time. 

BPC Chairman ABM Azad held an urgent meeting with the concerned officials on Thursday to determine what to do to deal with the fuel situation.

According to sources, the chairman told the officials that the supply of dollars will be increased by the government immediately after the elections. 

He instructed the BPC official to be proactive in ensuring that there is no problem in the supply of fuel oil. For this reason, he has directed to stop illegal stocks in the country, maintain constant communication with international suppliers.