100,000 tonnes crude oil shipment to reach Chittagong May 5

An oil tanker carrying 100,000 tonnes of crude oil from Saudi Arabia is expected to reach the outer anchorage of Chittagong port on the night of May 5, officials said.

Md Sharif Hasnat, managing director of state-owned Eastern Refinery PLC, said the vessel, MT Ninemia, has already crossed the Red Sea and is heading toward Bangladesh.

He said the ship passed near the Houthi-controlled coast of Yemen and avoided high-risk areas, including the Strait of Hormuz, before entering safer waters in the Arabian Sea. It is now en route to the Bay of Bengal.

The tanker departed Yanbu port on Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea coast at 6am on April 21 after loading crude oil overnight.

Eastern Refinery Limited (ERL) is expected to resume operations once the shipment arrives. The refinery had temporarily suspended operations due to a shortage of crude oil.

However, another tanker, Nordics Pollux, carrying an equal amount of crude oil, remains stranded at Ras Tanura port in eastern Saudi Arabia due to disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz.

ERL refines about 1.5 million tonnes of crude oil annually, meeting roughly 20 percent of Bangladesh’s total demand of 7.2 million tonnes.

Officials from Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) said about 92 percent of the country’s fuel demand is met through imports, while the remaining 8 percent comes from local sources and condensate processing.

The transport sector is the largest fuel consumer, accounting for 63.41 percent of total use. Agriculture follows at 15.41 percent, mainly for irrigation.

Power generation uses 11.67 percent of fuel, while industry accounts for 5.96 percent. Household consumption stands at around 1 percent.

Diesel remains the most in-demand fuel, followed by furnace oil, petrol, octane, kerosene and jet fuel.

BPC data shows that 6.83 million tonnes of fuel were sold in the 2024–25 fiscal year.