Energy Bangla - Bangladesh: LPG, Furnace Oil Prices Slashed by 13-15 pc

Prices of liquefied petroleum gas or LPG and furnace oil produced by Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation have been reduced by 13-15 per cent with effect from Sunday.
   The Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission on Friday approved the Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation’s proposal to lower the price of a 12.5 kg cylinder of LPG to Tk 850 from Tk 1,000, and of furnace oil to Tk 26 from Tk 30 per litre.
   ‘The new prices of LPG and furnace oil will be effective after midnight Saturday until further order,’ commission chairman Ghulam Rahman told Friday evening.
   He said that they had approved the BPC’s proposal to cut the prices without holding a public hearing as per the request of the BPC submitted on March 1.
   ‘We enforced the section in the BERC Act that empowers us to fix prices of energy without holding public hearing in case of emergencies,’ he said.
   Ghulam Rahman said that the BPC had pleaded for a quick decision as the corporation was facing fierce competition from private importers of LPG. ‘Besides, because of fall in sales as well as poor storage capacity, gas fields authorities have been forced to burn condensate, a petroleum product extracted from gas fields that is used as a raw material for producing LPG,’ he said.
   The sales of LPG of the BPC, that produces around 22,000 tonnes per year, have dropped in recent weeks as the private sector importers have reduced the price of LPG to around Tk 900 following the slump in oil prices on the international market.
   The demand for LPG in the country is around 80,000 tonnes per year. The liquid gas is mostly used by urban consumers in most district towns where there is no piped gas supply, as well as by light engineering workshops.
   The BPC drew criticism in recent days from consumers for not slashing the price when sales by the private sector shot up.
   The BPC also proposed that the price of furnace oil should be slashed as the import cost of crude oil decreased after the slump in crude oil price on the international market. The BPC produces around 2.5-3 lakh tonnes of furnace oil annually at the Eastern Refinery when it refines crude oil to produce diesel, kerosene and petrol.
   Business people have long been demanding that the government should cut the price of furnace oil.
   The BPC, however, is yet to respond to the slump in oil prices on the international market by reducing the prices of the four major fuel oils – diesel, kerosene, octane and petrol – and is now making a huge profit.