First octane shipment arrives in Bangladesh since outbreak of war

The first shipment of octane has arrived in Bangladesh since the outbreak of war in the Middle East. The vessel MT Central Star, carrying 26,000 tonnes of octane, reached Chittagong Port this afternoon, Thursday.

According to sources at the Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC), the consignment was supplied by Vitol, a Singapore-based international energy company. The fuel is from Malaysia.

The responsibility for unloading and distributing the octane from the newly arrived vessel lies with the state-owned oil company Meghna Petroleum Limited.

Its Managing Director, Md. Shahirul Hasan, told Prothom Alo that there is currently no shortage of octane in the country, adding that with the arrival of another shipment, the unloading process is expected to be completed within two days.

Octane is primarily used as fuel for motorcycles, cars, and microbuses. Since the outbreak of war following the US and Israel’s attack on Iran on 28 February, a “shortage” of this fuel has been observed at various filling stations.

In many cases, motorists were unable to obtain octane even after waiting in queues for hours, while numerous stations displayed “No Octane” signs.

Although a month has passed, the situation is yet to return fully to normal. However, BPC officials believe that the arrival of the new shipment will provide some relief to the supply system.

BPC is the country’s sole state-owned fuel importer. According to its publication “BPC Batayon”, octane accounted for 6 per cent of the total fuel supplied in the 2024–25 fiscal year.

The corporation’s latest annual report states that 415,000 tonnes of octane were sold during that period, nearly half of which was produced domestically, with the remainder imported.

As of 6 April, the country’s octane stock stood at 10,526 tonnes. In March, the average daily sale was 1,222 tonnes; however, due to supply constraints, the daily average in April has been reduced to 1,114 tonnes.

Following the onset of the war, 10 vessels carrying diesel, jet fuel, and furnace oil arrived in March, while a further seven scheduled shipments could not be delivered.

Notably, there had been no scheduled octane shipments for the previous month.