No immediate plan to hike local fuel oil prices as global market eases

As the price of crude oil continues to decrease in the global market, there will be no need to increase liquid oil price in the domestic market, said an Additional Secretary of the Energy and Mineral Resources Division.

Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) recommended a hike in fuel prices. However, the government has adopted a cost-saving policy without increasing the prices.

Crude oil prices fell to $94 a barrel in the global market on Sunday. On March 8, the price of oil rose to $138.

The crude and refined oil prices rose slightly in the second week of June in the international market. Then it started to decrease again from the beginning of July.

Experts believe that the recent visit of US President Joe Biden to Saudi Arabia has had a role in controlling oil price. Biden requested Saudi Arabia to produce more crude oil to control global inflation.

In addition, Russia and Ukraine’s agreement with Turkey and the United Nations on food supply has also showed new hope.

The Power Division said 500MW of electricity was saved per day after the decision to close shops at 8pm.

An Additional Secretary of Energy Division said the government had adopted cost-effective policy in fuel consumption. The decision to increase the price has been cancelled.

People have responded well to the government’s initiatives to tackle the crisis.

The government has also shut down, for the time being, diesel-fired power plants for rationing energy. Last year diesel-powered power plants were running at 5 per cent plant factor.

This year, BPDB said it would run them at 16 percent plant factor. However, the Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) had specified that the plant would run at 11 per cent factor. Now they are not running at all.

Professor Mohammad Tamim, country’s renowned energy expert, yesterday at a dialogue organized by Center for Policy Dialogue (CPD), said the decision to build diesel-fired power plants was wrong.

They should be permanently shut down. There are many unjustified capacity charges that should be stopped, he said.

State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid recently told journalists that the diesel-fired power plants use 10 per cent of country’s total fuel consumption.

Accordingly, if the annual demand for diesel is 50, 00,000 tonnes, the power plants use 5, 00,000 tonnes.

The Energy Division says now the major problem of fuel import is foreign exchange currency. Banks recently did not want to open LC due to dollar crisis.

BPC General Manager (finance) Mani Lal Das said they had recommended raising oil prices due to the international price hike. But after that nothing was reported about it.