BPC allowed to import 20% of diesel demand with high sulphur content
The Ministry of Industries is set to give the greenlight to the Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC), the lone state-owned fuel oil importer, to import high-sulphur diesel up to around 20% of the country's total diesel demand.
The ministry gave the verbal approval to the BPC at a meeting held on Thursday in the Ministry of Industries where most technical experts and representatives of the BSTI disagreed on the issue, said a source who participated in the meeting.
Contacted, Zakia Sultana, secretary of the Ministry of Industries, told The Business Standard that a verbal approval was given to the BPC on the condition of keeping the sulphur content within 350 parts per million (ppm), which is also the maximum sulphur content benchmark of the Bangladesh Standards & Testing Institution (BSTI).
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"The approval has been given temporarily considering the present crisis situation," she said.
"If 20% high sulphur content diesel is imported and blended with the rest of diesel, the overall emission of sulphur won't exceed the BSTI standard, but it will help us to save around $250 million," she added.
The BPC projected that the country's total diesel demand would be around 48.30 lakhs tonnes for the current calendar year.
Since 2020, it has been importing diesel with sulphur content of 50 ppm. The minimum is set at 350 ppm.
But if the corporation could import diesel with a sulphur content of above 500 ppm, it would be able to save $3 per barrel on imports, according to a top official at the BPC.
The BPC reached out to the Ministry of Industries to request a relaxation of the BSTI benchmark for sulphur in diesel.
After the request, the ministry called a meeting on Thursday with sector specialists to discuss the matter.
Participating in the meeting, however, chemical experts and environmentalists argued that the initiative would result in further pollution of the air and environment, said a source.
They disagreed with the BPC's proposals to import high sulphur content diesel.
Expressing concern during the meeting, Dr Md Ahsan Habib, professor at the Department of Chemistry of Dhaka University, said the present air quality of Dhaka was worse than the ideal standard.
"If higher sulphur content diesel is used in vehicles, lung disease and respiratory problems of city dwellers of Dhaka will increase further," he said.
Tapan Kumar Saha, president of the BSTI's petroleum committee and also a chemistry professor of Jahangirnagar University, said high sulphur diesel import and use will worsen the air quality.
Besides, the cements and concrete building will also face damages due to sulphur emission, he added.
Md Abdus Sattar, director general of the BSTI, said the standard of sulphur content of diesel was set on the recommendation of technical and health experts.
However, the representatives of the Energy and Mineral Resources Division, Ministry of Industries and BPC decided to allow the higher sulphur-content imports, said the meeting source.
