Special Correspondent; Chattogram: Eastern Refinery PLC Limited (ERL), the country’s sole state-owned oil refinery, has officially suspended operations due to a severe shortage of crude oil. According to refinery officials, the last of the refining activities concluded on Monday afternoon (April 13).
Despite the shutdown, the Energy Division has reassured the public that there is an adequate stock of refined fuel in the country, and the supply chain will remain unaffected.
The Crisis Details
In an effort to keep the machines running, ERL officials recently processed 5,000 tons of oil recovered from the Single Point Mooring (SPM) pipeline in Maheshkhali. They even utilized “dead stock”—the residual oil at the bottom of storage tanks—to maintain operations as long as possible.
Typically, ERL processes an average of 4,500 tons of crude oil daily. However, due to the supply crunch, production was scaled back to 3,500 tons last month. By March 4, the usable crude oil reserves had dropped below 2,000 tons.
Supply and Import Status
According to the Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC), the country imports 6.5 to 6.8 million tons of fuel annually. Of this, about 1.5 million tons is crude oil sourced from Middle Eastern countries, which is refined locally at ERL.
The current shortage is linked to the ongoing geopolitical tensions and conflict between Iran and the United States, which has halted crude imports for nearly two months. The next shipment of crude oil is expected to arrive in the first week of May. Until then, ERL operations will remain suspended.