Meghna Petroleum signs deal with JMI to sell LPG

Meghna Petroleum Ltd, a subsidiary of the Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation, has signed an agreement with JMI Industrial Gas Ltd, a sister concern of JMI Group, to set up liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) stations and sell the autogas.

This has been done to ease people's suffering concerning converting their vehicles into LPG-efficient ones.

Under the agreement, Meghna Petroleum will set up LPG conversion workshops in parallel with the sale of refuelling oil through the company's registered filling stations.

The company will receive a royalty of Tk0.50 for the sale of each litre of LPG, according to the agreement.

The deal between the two companies was signed at Meghna Bhaban on Saturday evening.

Mir Saifullah-Al-Khaled, managing director of Meghna Petroleum, and Md Abdur Razzaq, managing director of JMI Group, signed the agreement on behalf of their respective companies.

Mir Saifullah-Al-Khaled said they signed the agreement as part of business expansion.

At present, Meghna Petroleum has 829 filling stations.

Md Abdur Razzaq said, "Our goal is to do business transparently while protecting the environment."

The use of LPG as auto fuel is growing in Bangladesh due to its cost competitiveness compared to octane, petrol and diesel.

LPG is already a highly popular and admired fuel solution across the world for being energy-efficient and environmentally-friendly.

In Bangladesh, the business of LPG as autogas started in 2005 when Australia-based Petredec Elpiji set up the first filling station here. Now, there are around 120 autogas filling stations across the country with an annual demand of 60,000 tonnes of LPG.

Earlier, Meghna Petroleum signed similar agreements with six companies – Beximco LPG Unit 1, Bashundhara LP Gas, Omera Gas One, Unitex LP Gas, Petromax LPG Ltd, and BM Energy (BD) Ltd – as part of its business expansion.

Meghna Petroleum signed an agreement with BP Middle East LLC for marketing Castrol brand lubricants last year.

The company was listed on the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) in 2007 and its paid-up capital is Tk108.21 crore.

Its share price increased by 28% in the last two months. The closing price of each share stood at Tk203.60 at the DSE on Sunday.

In the first three quarters of the last financial year, its earnings per share was Tk19.72; down from Tk21.53 during the same period in the previous year.

The company paid a 150% cash dividend to its shareholders for the 2018-19 financial year.

The government owns 58.67% of the company's shares while institutional investors, foreign investors, and general investors own 30.28%, 0.56% and 10.49% of its shares as of July 31 this year.