Anisul Islam Noor :
Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) has started import of duty free furnace oil as the National Board of Revenue granted its proposal to do so, an official said.
“It is for the first time that the BPC got an opportunity to supply the fuel to both private and public sectors’ power plants at reduced rate,” said Mir Ali Reza, Marketing Director of the corporation.
He said, the NBR recently withdrew its restriction on duty-free import of furnace oil by the BPC. The private sector power plants have been enjoying the facilities exclusively since January 26, 2011, he said.
Ali Reza said, the import cost of furnace oil of the BPC would decline at least by Tk 9 per litre to Tk 33 per litre from the current price of Tk 42 per litre with tax and duty waiver by the NBR.
Bangladesh imports furnace oil from Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, sources said.
A notification issued by the Ministry of Finance on January 26, 2011 said that furnace oil to be used in power plants for electricity generation would be free of taxes and import duties.
Although the BPC was supposed to enjoy similar facility of importing furnace oil duty-free under the gazette notification, the NBR had put restriction on it alleging that the corporation had huge un-paid dues to the revenue board, a senior NBR official said.
Riding on escalated profit against oil trading, the BPC cleared all dues worth Tk 271 billion last year, which included outstanding value added tax (VAT) and import duties to the NBR.
The official said, the oil-fired power plants would use furnace oil at cheaper rates with the waiver of duties. The BPC had to pay 12 per cent customs duty and 15 per cent VAT at the import stage before withdrawal of the NBR’s restriction, he added.
He said the BPC has long been seeking duty and tax waiver on import of furnace oil and restoration of its rights to import the entire quantity
of fuel and supply it to power plants to ‘check pilferage and ensure efficient management.’
On the other hand, the government has been providing 9 per cent service charge along with import costs to the private oil importers as an incentive, said the official.
As a consequence, the BPC’s furnace oil import fell drastically by around 60 per cent to 481,673 tonnes in 2016 from over 1.0 million tonnes in 2013.
Ali Reza said the BPC will import 50 per cent of the furnace oil requirement through open tendering and the remaining 50 per cent through term deals with suppliers.
The BPC had never earned profit over the past 14 years since fiscal year 2001-02, but started making profit from October 2014.
Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) has started import of duty free furnace oil as the National Board of Revenue granted its proposal to do so, an official said.
“It is for the first time that the BPC got an opportunity to supply the fuel to both private and public sectors’ power plants at reduced rate,” said Mir Ali Reza, Marketing Director of the corporation.
He said, the NBR recently withdrew its restriction on duty-free import of furnace oil by the BPC. The private sector power plants have been enjoying the facilities exclusively since January 26, 2011, he said.
Ali Reza said, the import cost of furnace oil of the BPC would decline at least by Tk 9 per litre to Tk 33 per litre from the current price of Tk 42 per litre with tax and duty waiver by the NBR.
Bangladesh imports furnace oil from Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, sources said.
A notification issued by the Ministry of Finance on January 26, 2011 said that furnace oil to be used in power plants for electricity generation would be free of taxes and import duties.
Although the BPC was supposed to enjoy similar facility of importing furnace oil duty-free under the gazette notification, the NBR had put restriction on it alleging that the corporation had huge un-paid dues to the revenue board, a senior NBR official said.
Riding on escalated profit against oil trading, the BPC cleared all dues worth Tk 271 billion last year, which included outstanding value added tax (VAT) and import duties to the NBR.
The official said, the oil-fired power plants would use furnace oil at cheaper rates with the waiver of duties. The BPC had to pay 12 per cent customs duty and 15 per cent VAT at the import stage before withdrawal of the NBR’s restriction, he added.
He said the BPC has long been seeking duty and tax waiver on import of furnace oil and restoration of its rights to import the entire quantity
of fuel and supply it to power plants to ‘check pilferage and ensure efficient management.’
On the other hand, the government has been providing 9 per cent service charge along with import costs to the private oil importers as an incentive, said the official.
As a consequence, the BPC’s furnace oil import fell drastically by around 60 per cent to 481,673 tonnes in 2016 from over 1.0 million tonnes in 2013.
Ali Reza said the BPC will import 50 per cent of the furnace oil requirement through open tendering and the remaining 50 per cent through term deals with suppliers.
The BPC had never earned profit over the past 14 years since fiscal year 2001-02, but started making profit from October 2014.
