The government of Bangladesh has approved the import of nearly 175,000 metric tons of fuel oil worth Tk 1,698.21 crore to address urgent energy needs arising from the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. The approval came on Tuesday during a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Government Purchase chaired by Finance Minister Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury. The Energy and Mineral Resources Division submitted the proposals for the imports.

According to the Finance Ministry, the committee approved the purchase of 50,000 metric tons of EN590-10 PPM diesel and 25,000 metric tons of gasoline 95 unleaded (octane) from DBS Trading House FZCO through direct procurement, costing Tk 1,023.61 crore. Additionally, 100,000 metric tons of EN590-10 PPM sulfur diesel will be imported from Archer Energy LLC under the same method for Tk 674.60 crore. The ministry noted that fuel import proposals have been approved in almost every recent committee meeting.

The meeting also approved consultancy contracts for Dhaka WASA’s DESWS project and procurement of 30 million new hessian bags for the Food Department through open tendering.