MT Fossil, carrying 1,00,000 tons of Crude oil arrived at the outer anchorage of Chattogram Port, says BSS report.
Panama-flag carrier MT Fossil sailed from Fujairah Port, UAE and reached the outer anchorage early today, a senior official of the Bangladesh Shipping Corporation (BSC) said.
This is the second shipment of crude to Bangladesh since the war in the Middle East began. Eastern Refinery, lone state-owned oil refinery produces 16 types of oil products including LPG, petrol, octane, kerosene, diesel, and furnace oil from crude oil.
The crude oil distillation unit of Eastern Refinery was temporarily closed down in the night of April 12 as crude oil stocks ran out. However, during this time, ships carrying lakhs of tonnes of refined diesel and octane from Singapore and Malaysia arrived at the port one after another, resolving the fuel crisis quickly.
Eastern Refinery General Manager (Operations and Planning) Md. Mustafizur Rahman said, MT Fossil has reached the outer anchorage and the lightering process is underway.
Port officials said, after customs formalities and surveyor company procedures, the process of lightering or transferring the crude oil to Eastern Refinery in Patenga will begin.
A vessel ‘Nordics Pollux’ loaded with 100,000 tonnes of crude oil is stranded at Ras Tanura port in eastern Saudi Arabia due to closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
Loading of one lakh tons of crude oil another ship at Yanbu Port of Saudi Arabia on May 30 has been finalized. The initiative was taken to bring crude oil from Yanbu port on the Red Sea coast of Saudi Arabia as an alternative source.
MT Ninemia with more than 100,000 tonnes of crude anchored at Chattogram Port on April 21 and successfully unloaded the oil at the Eastern Refinery in Patenga on May 6.
The state-owned Eastern Refinery refines 15 lakh tonnes of crude oil annually, meeting about 20 percent of the country’s annual demand of 72 lakh tonnes.
Nearly 92 percent of the country’s fuel oil is imported to meet its needs, with the remaining 8 percent obtained from local sources and condensate processing.
Diesel is the most in-demand fuel, followed by furnace oil, petrol, octane, kerosene, and jet fuel. In the 2024-2025 fiscal year, BPC sold 68 lakh 35 thousand 341 tons of fuel.