Govt to procure 80 lakh litres soybean oil
Staff Reporter :
The government has decided to procure 16.80 lakh tonnes of refined fuel oil, 80 lakh liters of soybean oil and 8,000 tonnes of lentil to meet the growing demand of the country.
Apart from it, the government has also approved the draft ‘Bangladesh Offshore Model Production Sharing Contract (PSC) 2023’ in order to invite international bidding for hydrocarbon exploration in offshore areas of the country.
The approvals came from the Cabinet Committee on Government Purchase (CCGP) held on Wednesday virtually with Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal in the chair.
A total of 14 proposals were given approval from the CCGP.
As per approved proposals, Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) will import 16.80 lakh tonnes of fuel oil at Tk 12,850 crore which is equivalent to $1.1 billion, Cabinet Division Additional Secretary Sayeed Mahbub Khan told journalists after the meeting.
According to Sayeed Mahbub Khan, PTTT of Thailand, UNIPEC and PetroChina Company Limited of China, BSP of Indonesia, Emirates National Oil Company Group of the UAE and Petco Trading Labuan Company of Malaysia will supply the fuel oils and BPC will market the imported fuel oils for the July-December period.
The proposed import of fuel oil is part of BPC’s annual requirement of about 38.6 lakh tonnes of refined fuel oil in 2023.
As per approved three separate proposals from the Ministry of Commerce, the state-run Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) would procure 80 lakh liters of soybean oil through local open tendering method (OTM) from Meghna Edible Oil Refinery Ltd with around Taka 131.16 crore for the current fiscal year with per liter soybean oil costing Tk158.67 against the previous price of Tk161.37, Sayeed Mahbub Khan said.
Besides, TCB would also procure 75 lakh liters of rice bran oil through local Direct Procurement Method (DPM) with around Taka 117.75 crore, he added.
Apart from it, TCB would procure 8,000 tonnes of lentil under local open tender method for the current fiscal year with around Tk75.59 crore from Nabil Naba Foods Ltd with per kilogram (kg) lentil costing Tk83.51 against the previous price of Tk94.84.
However, a proposal from the Road Transport and Highways Division was also approved by the CCGP and awarded the package number WP-01 of the “Kewatkhali Bridge Construction Project in Mymensingh” to the joint venture of CSCEC China and Spectra Engineers, Bangladesh with around Tk2,137.97 crore.
Regarding the approval of the draft ‘Bangladesh Offshore Model Production Sharing Contract (PSC) 2023’, he said that now BPC can invites international bidding for hydrocarbon exploration in offshore areas of the country.
“This is the final approval to the draft Model PSC 2023,” he said.
According to official sources, the new Model PSC was prepared as part of the plan to invite international bidding within the current year for offshore deep and shallow water gas blocks by making Bangladesh more attractive to international oil companies and draw investment in hydrocarbon exploration in the Bay of Bengal.
Under the initiative, the gas price was tagged with the price of Brent Crude in the international market so that the gas price will be flexible.
“Under the plan, we’re going to offer the price of gas at 10 percent of Brent Crude,” a top official of Petrobangla, on condition of anonymity said.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine has further deepened the global market volatility pushing up petroleum price over $100 per barrel, the highest in the last 7 years.
Now, again oil and gas prices are on a downward trend and Brent crude oil is traded at $75 per barrel while LNG price is at below $14 per MMBtu.
