Bangladesh to import 10.4 lakh tonnes of oil

The Business Standard  20 May 2020
Indian Oil Corporation is the lowest bidder for two out of four packages

The Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) has floated an international tender to import gasoil, jet fuel, 180-centistoke high sulphur fuel oil, and 95-octane gasoline in four packages.

The corporation floated the tender on May 7 and opened the quotations on May 17. A total of seven international companies bid in the tender, said Mohammad Zahid Hossain, a deputy general manager at the BPC.

BPC intended 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.

Indian Oil Corporation is the lowest bidder for packages “B” and “D” for supplying 430,000 tonnes of diesel and 50,000 tonnes of jet fuel during July-December and 30,000 tonnes of gasoline through two equal parcels in August and November, said BPC sources.

Chinese company Unipec is the lowest bidder of the tender for package “A” for supplying 440,000 tonnes of gasoil and 70,000 tonnes of jet fuel.

Although Singapore-based Vitol Pte Ltd is the lowest bidder of package “C” for supplying 20,000 tonnes of high sulphur furnace oil, BPC sources said the tender would be cancelled because, as per the requirement, at least three companies have to bid.

“It is uncertain as to who is winning the tender because it is still being evaluated, consider many things about a bidder,” Zahid Hossain told The Business Standard.

A board meeting of BPC is scheduled to be held on May 21 where the winners will be finalised.