100,000t of crude oil arrive from Saudi Arabia, Eastern Refinery set to resume full production

After prolonged uncertainty, a tanker carrying 100,000 tonnes of crude oil is set to arrive at Chittagong Port this noon (Wednesday). The vessel, named MT Ninemia, is expected to berth shortly.

Once unloading is completed, the country’s only state-owned refinery, Eastern Refinery PLC, is likely to resume full-scale production from 8 or 9 May.

According to refinery sources, no crude oil shipments reached the country during March and April due to the conflict situation in the Middle East. The disruption to scheduled deliveries caused stock levels at the refinery to fall rapidly, forcing a reduction in processing rates before operations were eventually halted altogether.

The arrival of a new shipment is therefore being viewed as a major positive development.

Officials said unloading the crude oil typically takes several days, after which refinery units will be restarted in phases. As per current plans, full-capacity refining will resume from 8–9 May, restoring normal production of diesel, petrol, and other fuels.

Eastern Refinery Managing Director Md Sharif Hasnat told Prothom Alo that the vessel is expected to reach port on Wednesday afternoon, after which refining operations will begin and production will return to full capacity.

Officials at Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) said that around 80 per cent of the country’s fuel demand is met through direct imports of refined petroleum products, while the remaining 20 per cent comes from refining crude oil domestically.

On 2 March, a vessel named Nordic Pollux, carrying crude oil from Ras Tanura in Saudi Arabia, became stranded due to the conflict. Although the oil was loaded on 3 March and the ship initially departed, it later returned to the Ras Tanura terminal amid worsening conditions and has remained stranded there.

Separately, another 100,000-tonne shipment from Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) had been scheduled for last month. The Bangladesh Shipping Corporation had contracted the vessel MT Omera Galaxy for the purpose. However, the shipping company later cancelled the agreement.

ADNOC has instead proposed loading from Fujairah port rather than Jebel Dhanna, which would avoid the Strait of Hormuz but increase import costs.

Under the original schedule, a shipment of 100,000 tonnes was due from Ras Tanura in April. As an alternative, MT Ninemia departed from Yanbu port in Saudi Arabia on 24 April.

However, the revised route has nearly doubled import costs, adding an estimated Tk 607 crore in additional expenditure for a single shipment.

The cost of approximately 100,000 tonnes of crude oil stands at US$100.84 million—equivalent to about Tk 1,223 crore—with a per-barrel price of $126.28.