According to petroleum industry insiders, the move is going against the government’s effort to gradually improve fuel quality for motor vehicles to protect the environment.

A BSTI official document showed that the organisation is making the move responding to demand of a section of petroleum refiners considering the “real situation” which has not been explained. 

However, the officials of Industries Ministry, which controls the BSTI, said that there has been no final decision on the proposal yet.

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“Some parties, including petrol pump owners, appealed for downgrading petrol’s specification to us. But a decision is yet to be taken,” said Industries Secretary KM Ali Azam.

Official sources said the BSTI has already sent a letter to secretary of the Ministry of Industries recently to allow downgrading petrol’s specification from existing RON (research octane number) 89 to RON 87.

The organisation in 2019 upgraded Petrol’s specification to RON 89 from RON 87 for ensuring a cleaner environment to protect engines of motor vehicles which would result in less emission.

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Earlier in 2012, the BSTI had upgrade petrol’s specification by seven points to RON 87 from previous RON 80.

Sources said the downgrade of Petrol’s specification for local consumption will also go against the government’s overall strategy to ensure country’s environment through consumption of cleaner petroleum products.

They said that despite higher expenditure, state-owned Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) has started importing cleaner Diesel having 0.005 percent sulfur from July 2020 replacing the previous specification of higher 0.05 percent sulfur content.

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The BPC has also started importing cleaner marine fuel with 0.5 percent sulfur from July 2020 instead of previous dirty 180 CST high sulfur fuel oil with 3.5 percent sulfur as per the International Maritime Organization (IMO) guideline for cleaner environment.

Bangladesh consumes around 350,000 tonnes of Petrol annually, according to BPC statistics.

Sources said the quality of Petrol in neighbouring countries is much cleaner than Bangladesh as India has RON 91, Pakistan has RON 92, Sri Lanka has RON 92 and Myanmar has RON 92 specifications for domestic consumptions.

When contacted, a senior BSTI official preferring anonymity, said the BSTI has moved to downgrade the specification of petrol responding to an appeal of the Petrochemical and Refiners Association of Bangladesh (PRAB).

In a letter to the Ministry of Industries (MOI) in February last year, PRAB urged to downgrade Petrol’s specification to RON 80, which was in use nine years back before 2012, he said.

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The MOI subsequently sought comments from the BSTI over the PRAB appeal, he said.

The BSTI’s committees on Mineral, Fuels and Petroleum Products and Chemical division discussed the issue and recommended downgrading Petrol’s specification to RON 87 bringing its specification to the level of two years back, or pre-2019 level, in local market considering, what they said ‘national interest’ and the ‘current socio economic status’ of the country.

However, the Energy and Mineral Resources Division under the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources disagreed with the BSTI proposal.

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Sources said the step to downgrade Petrol’s specification goes against a High Court verdict, issued in January 2020 to ensure production and use of environment-friendly petroleum products.

Following an appeal from a consumer, the court in January last year directed all concerned including the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources, the MOI, the BSTI, and the BPC to ensure and supervise that all petroleum filling stations across the country sell petrol, octane and diesel as per the specification of the BSTI.