BPC to purchase 3.75 lakh tonnes of fuel oil

The Cabinet Committee on Public Purchase on Wednesday approved 3.75 lakh tonnes of fuel oil purchase by the Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) at a cost of Tk4054.38 crore.

The committee also approved the procurement of liquefied natural gas, fertilisers, and other products and services at an expenditure of Tk5686.71 crore, Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal told journalists.

He said nine proposals were presented to the committee, while six were approved.

Md Sabirul Islam, additional secretary to the Cabinet Division, briefed journalists on the details of BPC's procurements.

He said the committee approved the purchase of three lakh tonnes of gas oil from Indonesia's PT Bumi Siak Pusako Zapin at a cost of Tk3,274.32 crore.

Some Tk780.06 crore will be spent on buying 75,000 tonnes of jet oil (Jet A-1) from Unipec Singapore Pte Ltd.

Speaking about the three rejected proposals, Sabirul said they were for a project of the Mongla Port Authority under the Ministry of Shipping.

He said the committee deemed there was a lack of competition in the proposals as all the three project packages were recommended to be bought from a Finnish company.

The additional secretary said the committee has also approved a purchase of 33.60 lakh MMBtu LNG from Vitol Asia Pte Ltd in Singapore at a cost of Tk999.77 crore.

Last month, the committee sanctioned the procurement of the same amount of LNG at a cost of Tk1,241.49 crore. As such, LNG is being imported at a 20% lower price this time.