India Supplies 5,000 Tons Of Diesel To Bangladesh Amid Fuel Crisis

Amid the energy crisis in Bangladesh caused by the conflict in West Asia, India has supplied an additional 5,000 tons of diesel, a senior government official said on Friday night.

“An additional 5,000 tons of diesel have arrived in Bangladesh from India. With this, Bangladesh has now received a total of 15,000 tons of diesel from India in recent times,” Md. Murshed Hossain Azad, General Manager (Commercial), Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC), told ANI over the phone.

“On March 28, pumping will be done to send an additional 6,000 tons of diesel to Bangladesh,” he added.

“In the coming month of April, India has proposed to supply 40,000 tons of diesel to Bangladesh. We have officially accepted this proposal,” Azad said, without elaborating.

The diesel is being supplied from the refinery located at Numaligarh Refinery in Assam, India, via a pipeline through the India-Bangladesh Friendship Pipeline to Parbatipur depot in Bangladesh.

The India-Bangladesh Friendship Pipeline was halted after the mass movement against the then-Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in 2024.

After the general election in February, the current government, led by Tarique Rahman, took office, and the India-Bangladesh Friendship Pipeline was resumed. Through this pipeline, 15,000 tons of diesel have been delivered so far.

“Bangladesh’s annual diesel demand is 4 million tons, which is entirely met through imports from abroad,” Ezaz Ahmed, an energy expert, told ANI.

“The crude oil, imported from abroad in half a million tons, can be refined at Bangladesh’s Eastern Refinery and used. The remaining diesel, of course, is directly imported as refined diesel,” Ahmed added.

Bangladesh imports diesel primarily from India, Singapore, and the Middle East. (ANI)