Bangladesh is considering an arrangement under which it will get Russian crude oil refined in India and then import that refined fuel. By doing this it wants to deal with the supply disruptions caused by the ongoing conflict in West Asia. Under this scheme, which is currently under consideration, Bangladesh will bear the entire cost of importing crude oil, refining it in India and then transporting the refined fuel. The ET report quoted sources as saying that this week Bangladesh’s Energy and Mineral Resources Department has sent a proposal in this regard to Power and Energy Minister Iqbal Hasan Mahmood Tuku. In this proposal, permission has been sought to enter into a ‘Government-to-Government’ (G2G) level agreement with the Ministry of External Affairs.
Why did India’s refinery become necessary for Bangladesh?
According to media reports, Bangladesh’s only government refinery located in Chittagong is not very suitable for refining Russian crude oil. Russian crude oil is mostly of ‘heavy grade’, due to which Bangladesh has to completely depend on the import of refined fuel. This refinery has an annual capacity of 1.5 million tonnes and has been designed mainly to refine crude oil coming from Middle East countries.
During the visit of Bangladesh Foreign Minister to India this week, the issue of increasing diesel imports from India remained on the top of the agenda. Bangladesh is already maintaining cooperation with India in the energy sector. For this, a cross-border diesel pipeline has been laid from Siliguri to Parvatipur in Dinajpur. This pipeline is helpful in importing diesel from ‘Numaligarh Refinery Limited’. A 15-year agreement was signed between the two countries for this import in the year 2023.
This proposal was put before Russia
Bangladesh has got a limited opportunity to explore alternatives to ‘indirect imports’ due to the temporary relaxation of sanctions imposed by the US on Russian oil exports. About two weeks ago, a media report said that Bangladesh is also proposing to import up to 600,000 tonnes of diesel from Russia. Last month, Russia’s Ambassador to Bangladesh Alexander Khozin met Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Iqbal Hasan Mahmud Tuku. During this meeting, bilateral cooperation in the energy sector was discussed between the two.