Bangladesh's interim government has decreased the prices of petroleum fuels at the retail level with effect from September 1. As per a gazette notification issued by the Energy and Mineral Resources Division on Saturday, the price of diesel and kerosine at the consumer level will be Tk 105.50 per litre, down by Tk 1.25, from the previous price of Tk 106.75. Price of petrol will be decreased by Tk 6 to Tk 121 per litre, from the previous price of Tk 127.  Read more: Govt's executive authority to raise power and gas prices cancelled through ordinance Price of octane will also be decreased by Tk 6 to 125 per litre, from the previous price of Tk 131 per litre.  The new prices of petroleum fuels have been set in continuation of every month’s adjustment process under an automatic pricing formula in line with the global market price, said the Energy and Mineral Resources Division. 

The Energy and Mineral Resources Division has said that the country has adequate stocks of petroleum fuel. In a clarification on Wednesday, it said the country has stocks of 431,835 metric tons of diesel for 32 days’ consumption while Jet-A1 fuel for 44 days’ consumption and furnace oil for 32 days’ consumption. Requesting the people not to be misguided, it also said that a vested interest group is spreading false and fabricated information about fuel oil reserves, which is misleading the common people. The entire petrol is locally produced while 40 percent of octane is also produced by the country, it added. Read: Petroleum price may go up next month: Nasrul Hamid The process of importing 6 months’ petroleum fuel is in pipeline. “We strongly say that companies under the Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation have sufficient fuel oil reserves. At present there is no shortage or crisis of petroleum fuel in the country. There is no fear of crisis,” it said. In July 2022, the country has so far received some 255,000 metric tons of diesel from 9 vessels, about 43,000 metric tons of Jet-A-1 from 2 vessels, 24,677 metric tons of octane from one vessel and 53,358 metric tons of furnace oil from 2 vessels. In August 2022, some 218,000 metric tons of diesel will arrive in 8 ships while 25,000 metric tons of Jet-A-1 in one ship and 25,000 metric tons of octane through one ship. According to the import plan, these bulk fuels will arrive in Bangladesh in next 6 (six) months. Of these, 50 percent will be procured through G-to-G contract and the remaining 50 percent through open tender. There is no risk of shortage. The Energy and Mineral Resources Division requested all to be cautious and economical in the use of fuel which is being supplied in subsidised rates.

The Cabinet Committee on Public Purchase on Wednesday approved 10 procurement proposals including import of 1.235 million mts of petroleum fuel and 3.360 million MMBtu liquified natural gas (LNG) . Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal presided over the Cabinet body meeting. Read: Cabinet body okays proposal to procure 1.5 crore Chinese Sinopharm vaccine According to the meeting decisions,  state-owned Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) will import 1.234 million mts of petroleum fuel in different packages from Unipec Singapore Pte Ltd. Singapore, Petro China International (Singapore) Pte Ltd., VitoI Asia Pte Ltd., Singapore, and Emirates National Oil Company Pte Ltd, Singapore., at a total cost of Tk 5,774.45 crore (equivalent to about $683.366 million) over the next six months from June-December 2021. The supplier companies were selected through international quotation, said Shamsul Arefin, additional secretary to the Cabinet Division while briefing reporters on the issue.    He, however, did not disclose what will be the premium of the product and which item of petroleum will be imported from the companies.   The Petrobangla and its subordinate body RPGCL will import 3.360 million MMBtu of LNG from Excelerate Energy LP, United States at a contract value of Tk 313.68 crore.  The unit price of the LNG was not disclosed.  Read: Cabinet body clears proposal to purchase 30,000MT urea The Cabinet committee approved a proposal of Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) for awarding of a contract for procurement of design, development, supply, installation, testing and commissioning of telecom monitoring system for the telecom networks and systems of Bangladesh from TKC Telecom Inc, Canada at a cost of Tk 77.65 crore. A proposal of Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) to procure 3 passenger cruise vessels from Karnaphuli Ship Builders at Tk 231.13 crore received the approval of the committee. The Cabinet body gave nod to a proposal of the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority to appoint a service provider at Tk 218.71 crore for collecting fees and taxes  from motor vehicles through online for next five years. However, it was not disclosed which company won the contract for the job. Read:Cabinet body OKs import of 250,000MT rice Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation (BCIC) received the committee’s approval for procuring 30,000 metric tons of bagged granular urea fertiliser from Karnaphuli Fertiliser Company (Kafco) at a value of Tk 87.63 crore. The Cabinet body approved a proposal of the Bangladesh Railway to change 9 points of the PCC (Particular Conditions of Contract) of the Commercial Contract and also its supplementary agreement -2 of the Padma Bridge Rail Connection Project with Chana Railway Group of China (CRÈC). Shamsul Arefin said though the conditions of the contract will be changed, but it will not have any effect on the contract value.

Cabinet Committee on Public Purchase approved a total eight procurement proposals including import of petroleum fuels and fertilizer.

The government plans to import 4.98 million metric tons (MT) of petroleum fuel in the calendar year 2021.