IDB to lend funds to Bangladesh for refinery expansion

Jeddah-based Islamic Development Bank (IDB) will lend nearly US$300 million to Bangladesh to enable the country’s only oil refinery to expand, a senior government official said. The IDB also will provide a grant of US$220,000 for a feasibility study. Capacity at state-run Eastern Refinery Limited (ERL) in the port city of Chittagong will be expanded to 4.5 million tons a year, from about 1.5 million tons now, A.M.M. Nasir Uddin, secretary of the energy and mineral resources division said. “Enhancing the capacity of the ERL will help cash-starved Bangladesh to save at least one-fourth of the costs of annual fuel imports,” he said, without specifying when the work would begin or be completed. Bangladesh imports 3.8 million tons of fuel every year, including about 1.5 million tons of crude oil, officials said. The plant also refines condensates collected from the country’s natural gas fields into petrol and diesel fuel. Bangladesh’s present condensate production is 5,000 barrels per day. (September 2, 2007)