Bangladesh to import 1.74 mln tons petroleum from Kuwait
- Source: Xinhua
- [09:15 May 25 2009]
- Comments
Bangladesh's Cabinet Committee on Public Purchase Sunday approved import of a total of 1.75 million tons of petroleum from Kuwait in next 21 months under a renewed deal, private news agency UNB reported.
As proposed, 715,000 tons of the fuel oil will be imported during April-December period in 2009 and 1.03 million tons in January-December 2010, the report said.
The state-owned Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) will make the bulk import of petroleum from the oil-rich Gulf country's state-owned Kuwait Petroleum Corporation Limited (KPCL).
"The cabinet committee has approved the Energy Ministry's proposal for renewal of the deal," Cabinet Secretary Abdul Aziz told reporters here while briefing about the outcome of the meeting, according to the UNB.
"The cabinet approved the proposal for renewal of deal with KPCL in order to ensure the country's energy security," Aziz added.
He, however, said the premium of the import is yet to be determined. "This will be fixed later through negotiation," he said.
Bangladesh has been importing a bulk portion of its petroleum fuel from the Middle-Eastern country for long under state-to-state agreement. Bangladesh's annual petroleum requirement is between 3. 6 and 3.8 million tons, the UNB said.
In the last two years, Bangladesh had also imported petroleum from other sources in Asia, like Malaysia, the Philippines and the Maldives.