Fuel oil refining at the state-owned Eastern Refinery Limited resumed on Friday morning following the arrival of a fresh consignment of 100,000 metric tons of crude oil from Saudi Arabia.
The country’s only fuel refinery has remained shut since 15 April due to a prolonged shortage of crude oil. Operations started at 8:20am on 8 May, ending a 23-day suspension.
The crude oil shipment, carried by the Chinese vessel Ninemia, reached the outer anchorage of the Chittagong Port Authority on Wednesday. The transportation of the oil to the refinery began that night via lighter vessels.
According to refinery officials, around 16,000 tons of crude oil were delivered to the facility within 24 hours, allowing full-scale refining operations to resume. The refinery has established a target of processing about 4,400 tons of fuel daily.
Mostafizur Rahman, general manager (Operations) of Eastern Refinery, said all necessary preparations had been completed in advance.
“After receiving a sufficient quantity of crude oil, refining operations were launched at 8:20am,” he said.
Mostafizur added that the supply of refined fuel could begin from Saturday as the refinery continues to operate at full capacity.
Refinery sources noted that it takes at least 12 hours to convert crude oil into refined fuel once the refining process commences.
The refinery, which has a monthly refining capacity of 150,000 tons, was forced to halt operations after crude oil shipments were delayed due to the Middle East conflict.
Officials said crude carriers remained stranded at Saudi Arabian ports, while the closure of the Strait of Hormuz disrupted supplies for nearly two and a half months.
The vessel Ninemia departed from Saudi Arabia’s Yanbu port on 21 April carrying the 100,000 tons of crude oil. It travelled through an alternative maritime route before arriving at Chattogram port earlier this week.
