Bangladesh is facing a rare energy management imbalance. Octane imports have also exceeded the country’s storage capacity. However, motorists still have to endure long queues at filling stations.
A ship with 26 thousand tons of octane arrives in the country in the first week of April. Last Friday, another ship named ‘Navi Cielo’ arrived at Chittagong port with 27 thousand tons of octane from Malaysia.
Officials stated that if this fuel is unloaded, the total stock of octane in the country will be approximately 55,500 tons. This will also exceed the country’s national storage capacity of 53,000 tonnes. This amount of fuel can meet the needs of the country for more than 45 days. Apart from this, domestic refineries are producing about 700 tonnes of octane per day.
On Friday, Minister of State for Power, Energy, and Mineral Resources Amit Islam said that the country had never before had such a large amount of energy stored together.
The state minister also said, ‘We are fully prepared to meet the demands of the next two months.’
According to Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) data, the government has its own storage capacity of 45 thousand 819 tonnes with 16 depots, which can meet the demand for 38 days. Of this, Eastern Refinery has about 20,000 tons. On the other hand, Chattogram BPC’s main facilities have a capacity of around 22 thousand tonnes. And the remaining fuel is stored in other small depots.
In this situation, BPC has no option but to increase the supply of octane at filling stations to reduce the long queues and waiting time of motorcyclists and private car drivers.
However, it is not yet clear what the company’s plan is to manage this huge stock that exceeds capacity. Several BPC officials were contacted to discuss this stocking and supply management to end the long line of pumps, but none of them agreed to comment.
Supply at the retail level has not increased commensurately despite huge stocks. Drivers of Dhaka and Chattogram, especially octane-dependent motorcycles and private vehicles, still have to stand in long queuesLines of cars and motorcycles were seen reaching Mohakhali to refuel at the Trust Filling Station on Old Airport Road in Tejgaon, Dhaka even at midnight on Friday. At about the same time, the line of vehicles to pick up fuel from the Talukdar Filling Station at Asad Gate extends to Chandrima Uddan. A similar picture was seen in the suburbs of Dhaka and other major cities of the country.
Pump owners have been saying since the beginning that consumer behavior is more to blame than shortages.
Member Secretary of Chattogram Division of Bangladesh Petroleum Dealers, Distributors, Agents and Petrol Pump Owners Association Mohammad Moin Uddin blames the panic buying of fuel by the buyers for this situation.
He said, ‘People are standing in line for fuel even though there is no urgent need.’ Despite increasing the supply, the demand is still upward, he said.
Tensions in the Middle East raised fears of supply disruptions in March. As a result, the government adjusts supply to potential demand.
Fuel deliveries averaged 1,217 tonnes per day in March, slightly higher than 1,193 tonnes in the previous year. But officials said BPC unscriptedly reduced daily supplies by about 100 tonnes amid fears that the fuel could be delayed by ships. BPC had planned to sell an average of 1,185 tonnes of octane per day for April.
Meanwhile, the government has extended the pilot phase of the Fuel Pass BD app beyond the capital. Several districts and metropolitan areas have come under this motorcycle registration system.
According to an official notification, motorcycle owners in Dhaka, Chandpur, Chattogram, Barishal, Khulna, Rajshahi, and Mymensingh districts and metropolitan areas can now register under the Fuel Pass BD system.
The length of the ship ‘Navi Cielo’ which brought 27 thousand tons of octane from Malaysia is 220 meters. Due to its size, the ship is unable to dock at Dolphin Jetty. The vessel’s fuel will be transferred to another vessel named ‘Central Star’, its local agent Pride Shipping said. Central Star’s Jetty is scheduled to release on April 21E.
Unloading the entire consignment from Central Star to BPC’s central storage at Patenga is estimated to take about two days. From there it will take another two to three days to deliver the oil by road to the oil marketing companies (Padma, Meghna, and Jamuna).
And if transported by coastal tanker, it may take four to five days to arrive. Overall, it may take three to six days for this latest shipment of diesel to be integrated into the national supply system.
Chattogram-As the Dhaka pipeline is only dedicated to transporting diesel, it is not possible to transport octane through it.
