India seeks LPG transit to NE through Bangladesh
Source: The Sangai Express / Courtesy Livemint
New Delhi, February 07 2016:
India has sought Bangladesh's consent to transport Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) through its territory to save time and cost of delivering cooking fuel to its North Eastern States.
Bangladesh had earlier permitted India to transport heavy equipment through its territory to ONGC Tripura Power Corp's power plant at Palatana in Tripura which helped in its timely commissioning last year.
An official statement from the Petroleum Ministry said that Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Saturday met Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury, Bir Bikram, energy adviser to Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and discussed cooperation in petroleum exploration and trade.
The Minister sought "favourable consideration for transit of LPG to India's North Eastern region through the territory of Bangladesh," said the statement, adding that India's state-run companies were interested in participating in oil exploration and refinery expansion work in Bangladesh.
Because of geographic proximity, both the Nations have advantages in closer cooperation in trade.
For North Eastern States, importing many goods from Bangladesh is easier than from the nearest Indian State, West Bengal.
India is also keen to have access to Chittagong port in Bangladesh for easy access to markets like Myanmar and Thailand.
Pradhan also met Sri Lanka's Deputy Minister of Petroleum Resources Development, Anoma Gamage, in Bhubaneshwar.
Both the foreign leaders are present in India on invitation to attend Prime Minister Narendra Modi dedicating Indian Oil Corp's (IOC) Rs 34,555 crore Paradip refinery to the Nation on Sunday.
The facility has the capacity to process 15 million tonne a year of petroleum products.
The Oil Ministry statement said quoting Pradhan that with the commissioning of this refinery, India would be in a position to export petroleum products to Dhaka.
He also expressed India's interest in setting up of marketing infrastructure in Bangladesh.
With Sri Lanka, India is interested in expanding the operations of IOC's retail business and to establish a refinery, it said.