State-run Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) has floated a tender to appoint a consultant for carrying out land acquisition and requisition related job to initiate the construction of the proposed India-Bangladesh Friendship Pipeline project.
The corporation has decided to engage a third party to ease complexities and complete land acquisition for laying the first inter-country oil carrying pipeline between the two neighbouring countries, a senior BPC official said.
Interested consultants have been asked to submit expression of interests (EOIs) by October 10 expecting to initiate work by November and complete land acquisition by June 2019, he added.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bangladeshi counterpart Sheikh Hasina jointly unveiled last week the pipeline project through video conferencing from their respective countries.
Bangladesh will import diesel from Siliguri Marketing Terminal (SMT) of Numaligarh Refinery Ltd (NRL) located in India's Assam to northern region's Parbatipur oil storage tank through the pipeline.
The cross-border pipeline will go through Panchagar, Nilphamari and Dinajpur to reach the Parbatipur oil storage tank.
The total length of the friendship pipeline will be 130 km, of which 125 km will be constructed inside Bangladesh and 5.0 km inside India.
Currently, gasoil is brought to Parbatipur with rail wagons from Doulatpur oil depot in Khulna.
Before that, diesel is brought to Doulatpur through coastal tanks from Chittagong, after imported from the international market.
The BPC will purchase this diesel from Numaligarh refinery for 15 years at a premium rate of US$ 5.50 per barrel to Mean of Platts Arab Gulf (MoPAG) gasoil assessment on CFR basis.
Currently, the BPC has been importing gasoil from the international market at a premium rate of around $ 3.30 per barrel to Arab Gulf gasoil assessments on CFR basis.
Although the premium rate for importing gasoil from India is higher, gasoil import through the pipeline will save BPC's time, expenditure and hassle on account of transportation of diesel from Chittagong Port to Parbatipur, a senior official of the ministry of power, energy and mineral resources said.
Initially, the pipeline is planned to carry annually around 250,000 tonnes of diesel to Bangladesh during the first three years. It will gradually increase the capacity, transporting around 400,000 tonnes annually during the last five years.
Bangladesh might import diesel beyond the already-agreed 15 years based on mutual decision, the official added.
Indian diesel will be consumed by clients in the northern region, once the pipeline is constructed.
Azizjst@yahoo.com