Home ›› 17 Mar 2023 ›› Nation
An acute fuel crisis has hit Sylhet aggravated by the long-drawn-out suspension of operations of state-owned local refineries, a shortage of rail wagons and increased demand during the winter season.
Oil traders have been holding various programmes demanding for the refineries resume operations to solve the fuel oil crisis. But the refineries are being kept closed with various excuses.
Meanwhile, Sylhet traders have to collect fuel oil from Kishoreganj’s Bhairab upazila at their own expense due to a lack of supply as per demand. The added cost of transportation is leading to profit loss. Due to this, the businessmen have carried out various programs and even went on strikes several times.
According to fuel traders of the district, the daily demand for diesel, petrol, octane and kerosene in Sylhet district is about 10,00,000 litres in total.
Earlier, petrol and octane were produced through local refineries with the by-products obtained from the Sylhet gas field and sent to other parts of the country after meeting the districtwide demand.
But about two years ago, six state-owned refineries in Sylhet were closed on the pretext that the produced fuel was not meeting the BSTI quality standards.
The Six refineries in Sylhet produced some 9,410 barrels of petrol, diesel and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) daily with condensate from local gas fields.
Among them, 800 and 500 barrels were produced from two plants of Golapganj Rupantarita Prakritik Gas Company Limited (RPGCL), 60 barrels at Haripur under Sylhet Gas Field Limited, 300 barrels at Kailashtila and 3,750 and 4,000 barrels of petrol, diesel and LPG respectively from two plants at Rashidpur.
After shutting down the refineries in Sylhet, the condensates obtained as by-products from the gas field were sent to various private refineries in Chattogram.
From there, diesel, petrol, octane and kerosene were brought to Sylhet by railway wagons and supplied through three companies namely Padma, Meghna and Jamuna. The fuel crisis occurred only after Sylhet’s refineries were closed.
Fuel supply continued to be disrupted due to a shortage of railway engines and wagons, and frequent accidents.
When the fuel traders announced a continuous programme in this regard, the then chairman of Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) Abu Bakar Siddique came to Sylhet on March 10 last year.
He assured the traders that all refineries in Sylhet will be operational again through reforms. However, only one of the plants has resumed operations since then.
The crisis became more pronounced as the demand for fuel oil increased during the winter season. The tank-lorry workers protested in front of depots several times after not getting fuel in the depots of Sylhet.
Demanding a regular supply of fuel oil, the President of Sylhet Divisional Tank-Lorry Workers’ Union, Monir Hossain said, “Depot officials are showing failure in supplying fuel oil to the dealers. If they can’t deliver oil then they don’t need to be here.”
Meanwhile, the Central Secretary General of Bangladesh Petroleum Dealers Distributors Agent and Petroleum Owners Association and General Secretary of Sylhet Divisional Committee Zubair Ahmad Chowdhury said that several lorries are supposed to transport oil but instead they are receiving only one from Chattogram per week.
“The shortage of supply is leading to a fuel crisis. Traders have to buy oil from Kishoreganj and transport it at their own cost and lose profit. If the situation continues, we will be forced to start a strict movement,” he added.
