India and Bangladesh enter new era of bilateral petroleum trade

SILIGURI: India and Bangladesh entered into a new era of petroleum trade with a special goodwill train loaded with High Speed Diesel rolling down from India to Bangladesh on Thursday.

The 42 wagon rail rake, loaded with around 2500 MT High Speed Diesel, was flagged off on Thursday by Indian Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Dharmendra Pradhan at Siliguri Marketing Terminal of Numaligarh Refineries Limited(NRL) in West Bengal.

From Siliguri, the rail consignment will travel over 516 kms to reach Parbatipur in Bangladesh to be received there by N Hamid, Hon’ble Minister of Power, Energy and Mineral resources, Government of Bangladesh and H V Shringla, High Commissioner of India to Bangladesh on 19th March.

“This consignment is a symbolic gesture of friendship and cooperation that exists between India and Bangladesh,” said Pradhan. According to NRL officials, this is the first major petroleum consignment from India to Bangledesh.

During the visit of Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi to Bangladesh in June 2015, both India and Bangladesh welcomed the Sale-Purchase Agreement signed between NRL and Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation(BPC). The agreement also includes joint initiative for construction of a 135 km long pipeline, with a capacity of 1 million Metric Ton per annum(MMTPA), from Siliguri to Parbatipur.

As learnt, presently, Bangladesh meets its requirement of petroleum products through imports at Chittagong port. From there, the supply gets routed throughout the country. Import from India is expected to be more cost effective alternative for Bangladesh. On the other side, after NRL refinery expansion from present 3 MMTPA to 9 MMTPA, India will have enough stock to feed Bangladesh. Hence, “This pipeline, to be built by two years, will equally benefit both the countries,” said the NRL Spokesman.