Indian Oil to supply 4.80 lakh tonnes of diesel, jet fuel to Bangladesh

After 13 years, the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) – an Indian government-owned oil and gas company – won a tender to supply 4.80 lakh tonnes of diesel and jet fuel to Bangladesh in the next six months. 

The Cabinet Committee of Government Purchase recently awarded the tender to the IOC for supplying these petroleum products as it was the lowest bidder, said a senior official of the Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC).

The IOC previously supplied oil to the BPC in the 2006-2007 fiscal year. The BPC will give the company a premium of $3.85 and $4.20 for each barrel of diesel and jet fuel respectively, alongside the product prices set by the Platts rate. 

This time, however, the amount of premium seems slightly higher as it was $2.20-2.33 per barrel in the first six months of this year, said the BPC official. 

Meanwhile, the BPC also selected Chinese company Unipec as the lowest bidder for supplying 4.40 lakh tonnes of gasoil (a type of fuel oil) and 70,000 tonnes of jet fuel under package "A."

On May 7, the BPC floated the tender intending to import 870,000 tonnes of gasoil with a sulphur content of no more than 500 parts per million (ppm), 120,000 tonnes of jet fuel, 20,000 tonnes of 180-centistoke high sulphur fuel oil and 30,000 tonnes of 95-octane gasoline. 

"Seven international companies had bid in that tender," said Mohammad Zahid Hossain, a deputy general manager at the BPC.