Bangladesh will buy 150,000 tonnes of refined oil products from the Maldives for $183.44 million to meet local demand, officials said on Wednesday. The Male-based state-owned Maldives National Oil Company Ltd will supply 90,000 tonnes of diesel, 30,000 tonnes of petrol and 30,000 tonnes of jet fuel to state-run Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation.
"We've selected the Maldives as an alternative source for petroleum as the conventional exporting countries were doing monopoly," an energy ministry official said. Bangladesh, a net oil importing country, purchases petroleum mainly from Gulf countries including Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to meet its around 3.5 million tonnes of annual demand for oil. Maldives National Oil Company will supply the bulk fuels from its Singapore-based refinery, officials said.