The country’s sole fuel oil refinery, Eastern Refinery Limited (ERL), resumed operations at 8:00 AM on Friday (May 8) following a fresh supply of crude oil. The facility had been forced to shut down temporarily on April 12 after exhausting its stocks due to geopolitical tensions in the Middle East.
Managing Director Sharif Hasnat confirmed that crude oil is being pumped into the refinery via lightering vessels from a mother tanker anchored at Kutubdia. "We are scaling up to full production in phases," he stated.
The shipment arrived aboard the 250-meter-long vessel, MT Ninemia, which carried 100,000 tons of crude oil. To ensure safety, the ship bypassed the volatile Strait of Hormuz, arriving at the Kutubdia Channel on Wednesday. Due to its size, the vessel cannot dock at the Karnaphuli River’s Dolphin Jetty; instead, smaller tankers are transferring the oil to the Patenga refinery.
Commodore Mahmudul Malek, Managing Director of the Bangladesh Shipping Corporation (BSC), noted that the ship departed from Saudi Arabia’s Yanbu port on April 21. "The vessel safely navigated high-risk zones and anchored on schedule," he said.
A second tanker, MT Fossil, is expected to arrive on May 9 with another 100,000 tons of crude. However, a third ship, the Nordics Pollux, remains stranded at Saudi Arabia’s Ras Tanura port due to the ongoing closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
The state-owned Eastern Refinery processes 1.5 million tons of crude annually, meeting roughly 20% of Bangladesh’s total demand. The country relies heavily on imports, with 92% of its fuel coming from abroad. In the 2024-2025 fiscal year, BPC sold over 6.8 million tons of fuel, with diesel remaining the most critical requirement for the economy.
