Staff Correspondent

The Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) had to spend an extra amount of some Tk 23,000 crore for fuel imports in six months from March this year in view of increased international fuel price and freight charge, officials said today.

  Talking to BSS BPC chairman Dr. Md. Rafiqul Islam said fuel prices and import costs in international market increased abnormally in view of the Middle East crisis requiring “us to spend an extra amount of Tk 23,000 crore over the past six months".

   “Yet the government so far tried to keep fuel prices at a tolerable level considering people’s interest,” he said against the backdrop of the recent government decision on price adjustment.

   The BPC chairman said during the period Bangladesh needed an extra amount Tk 3,813 crore monthly also due to excessive transportation and handling costs alongside fuel oil prices.

   "Previously, freight charges were between US$3 and $4, which now stands at $15-$17. This means freight costs alone have increased nearly four to five times compared to the previous level," he said.

   He said BPC would have required to spend an additional average expenditure of around Tk 3,800 crore to Tk 4,000 crore every month unless the fuel prices were readjusted under the current circumstances.

   BPC officials said the country currently had sufficient stocks of fuel oil, with no supply shortage expected until December while oil imports continued.

   They said despite the readjustment BPC would incur a loss of around Tk 70 per litre of diese while the per day loss due to diesel alone import is around Tk 109 crore.

   The annual loss from diesel alone could reach around Tk 40,000 crore, the BPC chief said.
  He said adjusting fuel oil prices by Tk 20 per litre in line with neighbouring countries pricing could reduce BPC's annual losses by around Tk 10,000 crore.