India sends 5,000 tonnes of diesel to Dinajpur via pipeline

Amid concerns over a potential fuel shortage in the country due to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, diesel imports from India have begun arriving in Bangladesh through the Bangladesh-India Friendship Pipeline.

Officials of the Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) said pumping of diesel from India started at 3:20pm yesterday (9 March). The fuel is being transported from Numaligarh Refinery Limited (NRL) in Assam to the Parbatipur depot in Dinajpur through the cross-border pipeline.

According to BPC officials, it will take around 44 hours to pump the 5,000 tonnes of diesel, meaning the process may continue until Wednesday evening.

They said Bangladesh pumps around 113 tonnes of diesel per hour to the Parbatipur depot. Based on this rate, the pumping of the diesel shipment from India is expected to be completed by Wednesday evening.

The Bangladesh-India Friendship Pipeline runs about 131 kilometres from the Siliguri Marketing Terminal in India to the Parbatipur depot in Dinajpur, enabling direct transportation of diesel between the two countries.

The cross-border pipeline was inaugurated in March 2023 during the tenure of the Hasina government. It has the capacity to transport around 200,000 tonnes of diesel annually.

Before the pipeline became operational, diesel had been imported from India's Numaligarh Refinery through railway wagons since 2016. Energy sector officials had said the pipeline would reduce both transportation time and costs by allowing fuel to be delivered directly to the Parbatipur depot.

Under an agreement between the two countries, India is supposed to supply Bangladesh with 180,000 tonnes of diesel annually through the pipeline. However, India is scheduled to supply 120,000 tonnes of diesel to Bangladesh in 2026.

Earlier on Sunday, during a meeting at the Secretariat between Finance Minister Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury and Indian High Commissioner Pranay Verma, discussions were held on a proposal to supply an additional 50,000 tonnes of diesel over the next four months through the Bangladesh-India Friendship Pipeline.

Yesterday, in a separate meeting between Pranay Verma, Amir Khasru and Energy Minister Iqbal Hassan Mahmood Tuku, Bangladesh also expressed interest in receiving supplies from the existing optional quantity of 60,000 tonnes under the agreement.

India will be sending 5,000 tonnes of diesel to Bangladesh today (10 March) through the cross-border pipeline from the Numaligarh refinery in Assam.

Earlier today, ANI News reported, citing Chairman of Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) Muhammad Rezanur Rahman, on the diesel shipment from India.

"We have an agreement with India, and according to that agreement, India will supply 180,000 tonnes of diesel to Bangladesh via the pipeline each year. The 5,000 tonnes of diesel that is arriving now is a part of that agreement," he told ANI over the phone.

"According to the agreement, at least 90,000 tonnes of diesel should be imported to Bangladesh within six months.

"The consignment arriving today is 5,000 tonnes, and we hope that within the next two months, we will bring in the total diesel amount for the entire six months," the BPC chairman said.