Eastern Refinery Resumes Operations After 26 Days, Easing Pressure on Fuel Sector
Published : 20:03, 8 May 2026
The country’s only state-owned oil refinery, Eastern Refinery Limited, has resumed operations after remaining shut for 26 days due to a shortage of crude oil stock.
The refinery’s main plant restarted production at 8:00 am today (Friday), confirmed Managing Director Engineer Sharif Hasnat.
He said crude oil has started reaching the refinery through lightening operations from a tanker anchored near Kutubdia. Although the plant has been restarted, it will take several hours for the refining process to fully resume before production reaches full capacity gradually.
Sources said the tanker “MT Ninemiya,” carrying 100,000 tonnes of crude oil, arrived at the Kutubdia channel on Wednesday. It is the first crude oil shipment to reach Bangladesh since the outbreak of conflict in the Middle East.
Due to its massive size, the 249.95-meter-long vessel could not directly enter Chattogram Port through the Karnaphuli River. As a result, the crude oil is being unloaded in phases onto smaller tankers and transported to the refinery.
Before the Middle East conflict, the last crude oil shipment had arrived on February 18. However, as reserves ran out amid supply disruptions, Eastern Refinery’s crude oil distillation unit was temporarily shut down on April 12.
Managing Director of Bangladesh Shipping Corporation Commodore Mahmudul Malek said the vessel safely reached Bangladesh, and lightening operations began after completing customs and survey formalities.
He also said another tanker named “MT Fossil” has been sent to Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates to bring an additional 100,000 tonnes of crude oil.
Meanwhile, another vessel, “Nordics Pollux,” carrying 100,000 tonnes of crude oil for Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation, remains stranded at Ras Tanura Port in Saudi Arabia due to disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz.
Eastern Refinery processes around 1.5 million tonnes of crude oil annually, meeting nearly 20 percent of Bangladesh’s total fuel demand.
Diesel remains the country’s highest-consumed fuel, followed by furnace oil, petrol, octane, kerosene, and jet fuel used in aviation.
According to the Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation, the country sold around 6.835 million tonnes of fuel during the 2024-25 fiscal year.
