DHAKA: Bangladesh Petroleum Corp (BPC) has finalised term contracts with 10 companies for refined oil product imports in the first half of 2017 at lower premiums than this year’s term deals.The premium for gasoil for the January to June period will be $2.30 a barrel over Middle East quotes, two company sources with direct knowledge of the matter said on Monday. That is down from $4.40 a barrel for the first half of 2016.
BPC’s term contract for jet fuel was fixed at a premium of $3 per barrel over Middle East quotes, the sources said, down from $5.40 a barrel during the same period in 2016. Suppliers for Bangladesh’s middle distillates contracts include Kuwait Petroleum Corp, Malaysia’s Petronas, Emirates National Oil Company, Philippines National Oil Company, Vietnam’s Petrolimex, Indonesia’s Bumi Siak Pusako, PetroChina and Thailand’s PTT. The companies will all receive the same premiums.
BPC sought 965,000 tonnes of gasoil with a sulphur content of 500 parts per million, 120,000 tonnes of 180-centistoke high sulphur fuel oil and 90,000 tonnes of jet fuel for the first half of 2017 in the tender issued in October. BPC started issuing tenders for its long-term contracts in February after a 15 year hiatus, during which it directly negotiated with suppliers. The premiums are higher than the lowest offers it received in its tender. China International United Petroleum & Chemicals Co (Unipec) offered to sell gasoil at $2.16 and $2.08 a barrel over Middle East quotes, an offer document seen by Reuters showed. It also had the lowest offer of $2.76 a barrel for jet fuel.
BPC will pay a premium of $15.80 a tonne to Singapore spot quotes for the first half of next year, the company sources said. That is the same level that Vitol offered into the tender. BPC plans to lower the sulphur content of its gasoil imports from January 2017, in line with a global trend towards cleaner fuel. BPC plans to buy 1.6 million tonnes of gasoil, 200,000 tonnes jet fuel and 200,000 tonnes fuel oil through term arrangements in the next year, the company sources said. A shortfall in supplies of natural gas has forced the South Asian country to burn oil, a costlier option, to generate electricity.