On March 17 will be held the inauguration ceremony of the Indo-Bangla Friendship Pipeline (IBFPL), an international infrastructure financed by India at a total cost of 3.46 billion rupees and designed to transport fuel from the trading terminal of Numaligarh Refinery Ltd (NRL) based in Siliguri (West Bengal) to Parbatipur depot of Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC).
The Financial Express reported that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bangladeshi premier Sheikh Hasina are expected to inaugurate the operation of the IBFPL jointly through videoconferencing.
The project
The Indo-Bangla Friendship Pipeline, 130 km long, is located almost entirely within the territory of Bangladesh (125 km). The facility, which began in early 2020, has been completed and is now waiting to be commissioned for the transport of diesel. With the start of operations, Bangladesh will cease importing diesel from India by rail.
Importing diesel through the pipeline will save time and money while ensuring safer transportation.
Volumes and agreements
The pipeline is expected to initially transport around 250,000 tonnes of diesel annually to Bangladesh. It will then increase to 400,000 tons for the first five years, until it reaches about 1 million tons per year.
The state-owned oil company will purchase such diesel from NRL for 15 years at a premium rate of US$5.50 per barrel, after which Bangladesh may continue to import Indian diesel, which is in particular demand in the northern agrarian region.
The Indo-Bangla Friendship Pipeline represents, to date, the perfect synthesis of the cooperation between the two countries and their technological and engineering development.
Sources: thefinancialexpress.com, outlookindia.com
