A total of 375,000 liters of diesel has gone missing from the Fatullah depot of the state-owned Jamuna Oil Company Limited. The theft, which occurred in two phases, has exposed vulnerabilities in the energy sector.
The government launched the Dhaka–Chattogram pipeline last June, supplying oil directly from the main terminal in Patenga, Chattogram to Fatullah in Narayanganj, to prevent fuel theft and wastage. Yet, even after the pipeline was activated, this large-scale theft of fuel took place at Jamuna’s depot.
According to Jamuna Oil Company and Fatullah depot sources, one of the main tricks in fuel theft is manipulating the certified storage capacity of tanks. Diesel is stored in tanks 22 and 23 at the depot. Tank 22 is old, but its recalibrated certificate falsely reported reduced storage capacity. Tank 23 is new, but its capacity was deliberately understated from the beginning. As a result, even when more fuel was stored, official measurements showed less, enabling excess oil to be siphoned off.
Fuel at the depot is measured by a traditional method. Officials explained that if the depth of fuel is understated by just 2 millimeters, up to 1,180 liters can be stolen. Since the depot’s tanks already had understated capacity, the discrepancy allowed fuel to remain unaccounted for inside the tanks — which was then gradually sold off outside.
Before storing fuel, the Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution (BSTI) is required to certify tank capacity (calibration), which must be renewed periodically. Private contractors carry out the calibration on behalf of oil companies. For Fatullah depot, contractor M/s SM Nurul Haque of Khulna handled both tanks, which store only diesel. Tank 22 was calibrated in 2018 and again in 2025.
Three calibration reports obtained by Prothom Alo show discrepancies. The 2018 certificate said tank 22 had a capacity of 1,288,044 liters at 2,000 mm depth and 7,266,397 liters at 12,140 mm depth. The 2025 calibration, by the same contractor, claimed 1,228,840 liters at 2,000 mm depth and 7,208,129 liters at 12,140 mm depth — a reduction of 58,000–59,000 liters. Since tank 23 is new, no comparison was possible.
Contractor Andalib Bin Haque, owner of M/s SM Nurul Haque, told Prothom Alo that a 1 per cent margin of error is acceptable in capacity certificates, which would mean 7,000 liters for a 700,000-liter tank, but not 60,000 liters.
He suggested the discrepancy could be a printing mistake and admitted the draft report was not properly reviewed by Jamuna. He added they were recalibrating again but could not confirm whether BSTI officials were present during the process.
Jamuna Oil Company has taken note of the missing fuel and ordered fresh capacity checks for both tanks at Fatullah, while also forming an investigation committee.
A letter from Jamuna’s operations department to the Managing Director, dated 24 September, stated that the first supply of oil via the Dhaka–Chattogram pipeline ran from 24 June to 4 July, during which 262,804 liters were lost. In the second phase, from 14 to 22 September, another 112,614 liters disappeared.
Committee member Md Alamgir Alam, AGM (E&D) of Jamuna Oil, told Prothom Alo that they have already inspected the Fatullah depot and are reviewing all data. A report is expected within a week.
However, three senior Jamuna officials insisted that calibration errors cannot exceed 1 per cent and alleged that tank capacities were deliberately understated to facilitate theft. They estimated that around 250,000 liters of fuel were stolen in two phases, about 60,000 liters from each tank per supply round.
They added that the same syndicate manipulates tanker-truck capacities in a similar fashion, moving stolen fuel out of depots for sale. In the first phase, some oil also remained in the pipeline, which reduced losses in the second round.
When contacted, Jamuna Oil Company’s MD Mustafa Kudrat-e-Elahi did not answer phone calls. Though he read a WhatsApp message from Prothom Alo, he did not respond.
Jamuna officials said the company’s self-investigation will not reveal the full truth, since such probes allow theft to go unpunished every time. They argued that the Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) or the Energy Division should form a separate committee to properly investigate these irregularities.