Oil related paraphernalia to be showcased in museum

Says Sharif Ashrafuzzaman, MD of Meghna Petroleum Limited

The country’s first ever ‘oil museum’ is going to be built in the premier port city Chittagong.  The museum will be housed at a 20-storey building located at 72 Agrabad commercial area in the city.
The state-owned oil distribution company Meghna Petroleum Limited (MPL), a subsidiary of the Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation, will construct the 20-storey building on 11 katha of land at a cost of Tk 40 crore.
The 4200-square feet museum will be housed on the first floor of the building while the other floors will be housed for different commercial organisations including banks, insurance offices and restaurants.
Financed by the petroleum distributing company itself, the mammoth project is now awaiting approval from the Chittagong Development Authority (CDA), the MPL sources said.
While talking to The Independent, Dr Sharif Ashrafuzzaman, managing director (MD) of MPL, said that the objective to build the museum was to make the people familiar with different kinds of oil paraphernalia and their long history.
“The museum will provide information about different kinds of oil, their history, condition of oil in different countries, history of the discovery of furnace oil in the sub-continent, advent of different oil companies in the country and their activities, oil exploration activities in Bangladesh, oil fields in Bangladesh, reserve of oil in the country, and achievements and possibilities of oil resources in Bangladesh,” said the MPL MD.
Dubbing the museum as a national asset of the commercial capital as well as of the whole country, MPL MD said the structure of the museum to be constructed in the city's commercial hub and adjacent to the World Trade Centre, Agrabad, would be one of the tallest and most spectacular buildings of the city.
Asked how the idea of an oil museum occurred to him, Dr Sharif said, “The idea of setting up an oil museum stuck with me when I visited the museums of France. There I happened to see some museums built with the personal collections of famous poets and artists,”   “The preliminary official procedure of the project is almost complete. We are going to float tender for constructing the building which is likely to begin very soon,” said Sheikh Abdul Motaleb, MPL Deputy GM, Operations.
“Apart from oil paraphernalia, we are also collecting many other things having antique value like official documents and letters, rare books on oil, computers, typewriters, telex machines, pictures, pumping machines, oil lamps, signboards, handles, nuts and bolts,” said Motaleb.      
“We have allocated a special budget for collecting the exhibits of the museum. We are collecting the antiquated things from different sources, including the terminals and the depots of the company. The museum will be a storehouse of knowledge on the history of petroleum oil in the country and people will have free access to the museum,” hoped Motaleb.

Oil related paraphernalia to be showcased in museum

Says Sharif Ashrafuzzaman, MD of Meghna Petroleum Limited

The countrys first ever oil museum is going to be built in the premier port city Chittagong. The museum will be housed at a 20-storey building located at 72 Agrabad commercial area in the city. The state-owned oil distribution company Meghna Petroleum Limited (MPL), a subsidiary of the Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation, will construct the 20-storey building on 11 katha of land at a cost of Tk 40 crore. The 4200-square feet museum will be housed on the first floor of the building while the other floors will be housed for different commercial organisations including banks, insurance offices and restaurants. Financed by the petroleum distributing company itself, the mammoth project is now awaiting approval from the Chittagong Development Authority (CDA), the MPL sources said. While talking to The Independent, Dr Sharif Ashrafuzzaman, managing director (MD) of MPL, said that the objective to build the museum was to make the people familiar with different kinds of oil paraphernalia and their long history. The museum will provide information about different kinds of oil, their history, condition of oil in different countries, history of the discovery of furnace oil in the sub-continent, advent of different oil companies in the country and their activities, oil exploration activities in Bangladesh, oil fields in Bangladesh, reserve of oil in the country, and achievements and possibilities of oil resources in Bangladesh, said the MPL MD. Dubbing the museum as a national asset of the commercial capital as well as of the whole country, MPL MD said the structure of the museum to be constructed in the citys commercial hub and adjacent to the World Trade Centre, Agrabad, would be one of the tallest and most spectacular buildings of the city. Asked how the idea of an oil museum occurred to him, Dr Sharif said, The idea of setting up an oil museum stuck with me when I visited the museums of France. There I happened to see some museums built with the personal collections of famous poets and artists, The preliminary official procedure of the project is almost complete. We are going to float tender for constructing the building which is likely to begin very soon, said Sheikh Abdul Motaleb, MPL Deputy GM, Operations. Apart from oil paraphernalia, we are also collecting many other things having antique value like official documents and letters, rare books on oil, computers, typewriters, telex machines, pictures, pumping machines, oil lamps, signboards, handles, nuts and bolts, said Motaleb. We have allocated a special budget for collecting the exhibits of the museum. We are collecting the antiquated things from different sources, including the terminals and the depots of the company. The museum will be a storehouse of knowledge on the history of petroleum oil in the country and people will have free access to the museum, hoped Motaleb.