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Bangladesh Energy Division to seek approval on importing diesel from India
The Energy and Mineral Resources Division (EMRD) will seek cabinet approval on the Sale Purchase Agreement (SPA) between India and Bangladesh for importing of High Speed Diesel (HSD) through the proposed 131 kilometres Indo-Bangla friendship pipeline. “We will send a proposal to the cabinet committee very soon in this regard,” an official of Energy and Mineral Resources Division told the Dhaka Tribune Sunday.
On April 10 this year, India’s state-owned Numaligarh Refinery Limited (NRL) and Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) signed an initial for SPA, which includes construction of a 131 km long pipeline from Siliguri to Parbatipur, with a capacity of one million Metric Ton per annum (MMTPA). The pipeline is supposed to connect NRL terminal of West Bengal’s Siliguri and BPC depot in Parbatipur of Dinajpur. The agreement will be effective for 15 years.
The estimated cost is Rs 3.63 billion and it will take two years for the commissioning of the pipeline after signing the SPA. India will finance the pipeline as grant-in-aid. “Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation will pay Numaligarh Refinery Limited a premium of $5.50 per barrel,” BPC Director (operations and Planning) Sayed Mohammad Mozammel Haque told the Dhaka Tribune. He added: “The price of oil imported from India will be fixed according to international market rate.”
The route survey for the pipeline has been completed and the detailed feasibility report has been prepared by Engineers India Limited. On the other hand, the government is set to build a diesel-fired 150 megawatt power plant in Saidpur of Nilphamari. The fuel for the plant will be imported from Numaligarh. On July 19, the cabinet committee on economic affairs approved the proposal for setting up the power plant through financing under an export credit agency.
On January 12, 2017, a Railway rake containing 2,281 MT of high speed diesel was dispatched from NRL’s marketing terminal in Siliguri to Parbitipur BPC depot. The consignment containing 42 wagons travelled over 516km (253km in India and 263km in Bangladesh), on the existing railway line via Rangapani, Singabad, Rohanpur, to reach Parbatipur. Earlier, India and Bangladesh entered into a new era of petroleum trade with a goodwill train flagged off by the Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas (Independent Charge) Dharmendra Pradhan on March 17 2016 from NRL’s Siliguri marketing terminal to Bangladesh. Andrus Peat Jersey
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