State-owned Bangladesh Petroleum Corp plans to import around 1.58 million mt of oil products from eight term suppliers during the second half of 2014, down 31.30% from the first half, a senior BPC official told Platts Tuesday.
BPC completed term negotiations with eight Asian companies last week, he said.
The drastic fall in imports of 180 CST high sulfur fuel oil with up to 3% sulfur and 0.25% sulfur gasoil are behind the overall decline in the second half, the official said.
BPC will import 380,000 mt of HSFO in the second half, down 27% from the first half, as some privately owned power plants will import HSFO separately on their own to run their oil-fired power plants.
It will import 1.01 million mt of gasoil during H2, down 33.11% from H1 imports, as demand falls during the winter season.
Of the total for H2 2014, BPC will import 1.01 million mt of gasoil, 380,000 mt of HSFO, 170,000 mt of jet A-1, 9,000 mt of 95 RON gasoline and 5,000 mt of superior kerosene.
Kuwait Petroleum Corp. will supply 450,000 mt of 0.25% sulfur gasoil and 120,000 mt of jet A-1 during H2 2014; Petco, the trading arm of Malaysia's Petronas, will supply 200,000 mt of 0.25% sulfur gasoil, 80,000 mt of HSFO, 50,000 mt of jet A-1 and 5,000 mt of superior kerosene.
Emirates National Oil Company will supply 90,000 mt of 0.25% sulfur gasoil and 100,000 mt of HSFO; and PetroChina will supply 90,000 mt of 0.25% sulfur gasoil and 40,000 mt of HSFO.
Vietnam's Petrolimex will supply 30,000 mt of 0.25% sulfur gasoil and 80,000 mt of HSFO and Indonesia's Bumi Siak Pusako 40,000 mt of HSFO during H2 2014.
BPC will import 60,000 mt of 0.25% sulfur gasoil and 20,000 mt of HSFO from China's Unipec, while Philippines' PNOC will supply 96,000 mt of 0.25% sulfur gasoil, 20,000 mt of HSFO and 9,000 mt of 95 RON gasoline, the BPC official said.
The 0.25% sulfur gasoil was concluded at a premium of $4.80/barrel to Mean of Platts Arab Gulf Gasoil assessments for July-December 2014, stable from January-June 2014 and July-December 2013, and up from a premium of $4.30/b in H1 2013, the official said.
The premium for HSFO imports was fixed at $34/mt to MOPAG assessments for 180 CST HSFO, down $1/mt or 2.85% from the January-June 2014 level.
The premium for jet A-1 was set at $5.80/b to MOPAG kerosene/jet assessments for July-December 2014, unchanged from January-June 2014 and July-December 2013. It was higher than the premium of $5.30/b for H1 2013.
For superior kerosene, the premium was fixed at $5.80/b to MOPAG assessments for kerosene/jet, unchanged from levels for January-June 2014 and July-December 2013, and up from $5.30/b in H1 2013.
For 95 RON gasoline, the premium was concluded at $7.50/b to MOPAG assessments for 95 RON gasoline, stable from January-June 2014.
Following the conclusion of the term volumes and prices for H2 2014, BPC will send the outcome of the negotiations to the country's cabinet committee for approval, the BPC official said.
The cabinet committee usually endorses all of BPC's negotiations to import oil products, considering its urgency to meet domestic demand.
Separately, BPC also expects to import around 700,000 mt of crude oil from Saudi Aramco and Abu Dhabi National Oil Company during H2 2014, the BPC official said.
