Tougher action against errant refineries needed
It is now time
to go for even tougher action so that all the private refineries maintain
a transparent account of the crude products
they receive
The imperative is now clear: the government has to take tougher action against all the private refineriesbig or smallto stop fuel contamination so that the government is benefited economically. According to a report published in this newspaper yesterday, the recent government move against only four refineries has produced encouraging results: legal petrol sale has doubledit is now 690-700 MT compared to 373 MT per day two months ago. As a result of the move, Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) is earning Tk. 162 crore per month. The government action has also pushed up octane sale also, as lifting of octane from the oil depot has risen.
The country is obviously benefiting from the decision to act against errant refineries which are directly selling the condensate to petrol pumps at Tk. 70 and the pumps are mixing it with refined products before sale. But the relevant law stipulates that all refined petroleum products must be sold to the BPC which will supply the same to petrol pumps. Surely, the hole through which condensate and naphtha are directly going to petrol pumps has to be plugged. The Independent report mentions that if the government takes action against other big private refineries involved in dubious practices, petrol sale would climb to 1,000 MT per day.
Since, according to the report, nothing has changed in the transport sector due to doubling of the petrol demand in the past two months and registration of new cars remains usual, the governments relevant authorities ought to stick to its decision against companies with dubious practices which are trying to reverse the present situation by spending money.
Out of 13 private refineries that produce petroleum products from condensate and naphtha, only a couple of them seem to be satisfactorily performing against the condensate they are receiving. The other refineries fail to have transparent account in this regard. In many cases, the discrepancies in the figures are mind boggling. In the cases of some companies such as Chowdhury Refinery Ltd, Lark Petroleum Ltd and CVO Refinery, the percentage amount of the refined products that they sent to BPC in the last fiscal was even below the double digit from the amount of condensate they had received.
It is now time to go for even tougher action so that all the private refineries maintain a transparent account of the crude products they receive and refined products they deliver to the BPC. The point here is: the dishonest practices of the private refineries have to be checked and earning of the BPC has to be increased.
