Staff Reporter :
The government plans to establish a private-sector-controlled fuel supply company (FSC) for import and supply of furnace oil to the country’s oil-fired power plants. If it is done, it will be a disaster for the state owned Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC), experts said.
The BPC, which currently has the authority to import fuel and supply it to power plants, has been elbowed out of having stakes in the proposed FSC.
A dozen of privately-owned oil-fired power plants, which were allowed to import fuel of their own to run their power plants, will also be barred from importing it to establish the ‘supreme authority’ of the FSC, they added.
When contacted, Professor M Tamim of the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) said, “I don’t see any justification for establishing the FSC under the existing situation.” “What is wrong with the BPC? Did it fail to import or supply fuel to power plants?” He asked.
The government should empower the BPC to increase its capacity to import petroleum products, suggested Tamim, who was a special assistant under the previous caretaker government, suggested.
“The private firm will make hefty profit out of it at the cost of public money if the FSC is formed”, he said.
The government will make a big mistake by empowering a single firm to import fuel and supply it to power plants, he warned. When contacted, Energy and Mineral Resources Division (EMRD) Secretary Md Abu Bakar Siddique said, “The formation of FSC will threaten the country’s energy security, especially the oil sector.”
Siddique, who is an ex-BPC chairman said, “I never supported it in the past nor would do it in the future.”
“It would be a disaster for the BPC if the government hands over fuel import and supply authority to a private FSC,” BPC Chairman AM Badrudduza said.
He said that for years, the BPC invested billions of taka to increase its capacity to import about 6.0 million tonnes of petroleum products, including 1.2 million tonnes of furnace oil and constructing new oil storage tankers.
Besides, the BPC has the sole authority under the Bangladesh Petroleum Act 1974 to import and supply petroleum products, he said. He alleged that the BPC was even not contacted before withdrawing its stake from the planned FSC.
“I am not aware of it. But definitely we want full authority, not 10 per cent stake only,” said the BPC Chairman.
The Bangladesh Independent Power Producers’ Association (BIPPA) and the Bangladesh Energy Companies Association (BECA) have also opposed the government move of establishing the FSC with supreme authority of importing furnace oil and supply it to power plants.
