Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) has incurred a loss of over Tk 5.0 billion in fuel oil trading over the past three months to January as the price of the petroleum products in the international market continued upward trend, officials said.
Presently, it is incurring a loss more than Tk 100 million every day, according to a senior official at the state-run oil trading agency.
The loss stands at Tk 9.80 per litre for trading furnace oil while Tk 5.24 per litre for diesel and Tk 4.74 per litre for kerosene.
The BPC started showing the loss since November last year, after making substantial profits for three consecutive years since late 2014.
The fuel price in the international market started escalating since mid-June 2017 due to cut in oil production by some of the major oil exporters coupled with international political turmoil.
But the BPC's loss started four months after the beginning of international price hike as the corporation was buying the petroleum products from international market at lower rate and selling at higher rates in the domestic market.
The BPC official expressed the fear that the loss might go up if the price of petroleum products in the international market climbs up further.
The price of brent crude, the benchmark in international oil price, climbed up to $ 71 per barrel in January 2018, from $47 in June 2017 and below $30 in early 2016.
A senior BPC official said the state trading agency was facing losses in oil trades as the cost -- import cost with 31 per cent tax and freight charges plus margins for the company and dealers -- is higher than the retail prices.
The appreciation of US dollar against the local currency also caused losses to the BPC, he added.
If one litre of diesel in the international market is Tk 100, the BPC's overall costs to supply the fuel at retail level stands at around Tk 135 per litre, after paying all taxes and margins, the official added.
The BPC imported diesel at $ 50.31 per barrel in April 2016, which soared to $ 82.10 per barrel in January 2018, said the official.
Its import price of furnace oil soared to around $412.41 per tonne in January 2018 from $ 216 in April, 2016.
The state-run corporation imported Brent crude at $ 43.17 per barrel in April 2016 and kerosene at $ 53.29 per barrel, which soared to $ 65.49 per barrel and $82.99 per barrel respectively in January 2018, said the official.
It was making profits through trading the petroleum products since September 2014 until October, 2017 due to a slump in international oil prices.
It registered a profit of Tk 73.34 billion in the first 10 months of the last fiscal year until April 2017, following a profit of Tk 90.4 billion in FY2015-16 and Tk 4.13 billion in FY2014-15.
Before then, it had incurred a loss of Tk 23.32 billion in FY2013-14 and Tk 48.32 billion in FY2012-13. In FY2011-12, the loss was Tk 113.71 billion, which was Tk 88.40 billion in FY2010-11. The BPC incurred losses every year from FY2001-02 to FY2013-14.
