The Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) has proposed Bangladesh to directly supply diesel to Parbatipur oil depot in Dinajpur to facilitate fuel transportation.
It intends to carry diesel to Parbatipur depot owned by the Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) through 50 wagons from Numaligarh refinery in Assam.
"We wrote to the Bangladesh Railway (BR) to develop necessary infrastructure to facilitate BPCL's diesel transportation to Parbatipur through West Bengal Railway wagons," a senior BPC official on Thursday.
The rail routes from Numaligarh refinery to Parbatipur have broad-gauge tracks on either side, he told the FE.
It might not be difficult for BR to develop required infrastructure, the official cited.
Officials said diesel import from neighbouring India has recently dropped by almost half due to BR's capacity constraints.
Bharat Petroleum has long been carrying diesel from Numaligarh to Bangladesh border via West Bengal.
BPC then carries the fuel through the state-owned BR to its Parbatipur depot in the country's northern region.
Diesel is taken from Indian border to Parbatipur by a 42-wagon rake since the initiation of its import from Numaligarh in October 2017, said the BPC official.
Over the past several months, the Indian company has been requesting its Bangladesh counterpart to import 50 wagons of diesel from Numaligarh refinery by one rake.
But BPC has so far denied it on grounds of incapacity to import 50 wagons of diesel in one go due to BR's limited capacity.
Due to transportation bottleneck, BPC can now import only two rakes of diesel per month from Numaligarh through railway instead of four rakes.
BPCL has informed BPC not to supply over two rakes of diesel if the BPC continues importing diesel with a 42-wagon rake, the official added.
It, however, intends to supply four rakes of diesel if BPC imports through a 50-wagon rake, he added.
BPCL argues that it has to pay carrying costs for a 50-wagon rake to West Bengal Railway in every consignment, no matter it carries a full 50-wagon rake or less.
Presently, Bangladesh imports around 4,400 tonnes of diesel every month from BPCL-owned Numaligarh refinery through two consignments, 2,200 tonnes each.
But BPC can import four consignments of diesel every month under an agreement with BPCL.
BPC pays a premium rate of $5.50 per barrel on a CFR basis to import from Numaligarh, meaning BPCL has to carry the product to Parbatipur at its own expense.
