Although the fuel oil price dropped in the international market, there is no possibility of reducing its price in the country for the time being.
As a reason, Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) incurred a total loss of Tk 43 crore by selling fuel oil. However, BPC is making profit by selling all fuels except diesel.
When increasing the price of fuel oil in the country, it is repeatedly said that if the price is reduced in the international market, it will be reduced in the domestic market as well. But the indication that BPC got is that the price of fuel oil is not going down for now.
"BPC is still losing Tk 2-3 per litre in diesel sales, however, there is profit in selling petrol and octane. As such, there is no possibility of reducing the price of fuel oil for the time being," the BPC chairman ABM Azad said at a press conference at their office on Tuesday.
He said that from February to November this year, they have incurred an average loss of Tk 233 crore. Meanwhile, due to profit in other fuels like oil except diesel, now their total loss has reached taka 43 crores. ???? (the sentence does not make sense)
BPC chairman said, “If the price of refined fuel oil is $103 per barrel in the international market, we are at break even. But if it is more than that we lose. Last November, the price of refined diesel averaged $105 per barrel.”
Earlier, on October 5, BGMEA, an association of garment industry owners, had written a letter seeking the Prime Minister's intervention to reduce the price of diesel. The organization claims that the garment sector will lose competitiveness if a positive decision is not taken quickly on reducing the price of diesel.
Such rise in fuel prices will have a negative impact on the country's economy. Apart from this, economists were also saying that the time has come to adjust the price of fuel oil to bringing relief to the economy including the export sector.
Recently Center for Policy Dialogue (CPD) said that BPC is making profit by selling fuel oil. In particular, CPD claims that BPC is making a profit of taka 29 per liter of diesel. (makes no sense)
The price of crude oil rose to $139 per barrel after the start of the Ukraine war. Crude oil prices in the international market last week were between $78-80 per barrel.
The government increased fuel prices to a record level in August, setting the buying cost of per barrel diesel at $139. That baseline is yet to be lowered even as crude and refined oil are following a downtrend in international markets for the last one and a half months.