Bangladesh Economy: News & Updates

[dray]

These people identify more with Indians than with Bangladesh.

It's Kali Pradip Chowdhury's religious identity that seems to be troubling you.

 

[TopCat]

It's Kali Pradip Chowdhury's religious identity that seems to be troubling you.

KPC group has huge presence in India. KPC medical college also of them.

 

[dray]

KPC group has huge presence in India. KPC medical college also of them.

You have been to that place? I know you have stayed in Kolkata.

 

[Michael Corleone]

I want to give them benefit of doubt. This kind of project will showcase Bangladesh internationally and will bring in more investment in the long run. Look at Malaysia and their twin tower and how that show cased Malaysia for a long time.

We got a wiki page for it...
Little bit more about the future plan. It seems like a total business district with additional towers of smaller height.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iconic_Tower

Yeah a bit hyped up as I am sick of the way Dhaka is. Financial/administrative center... Dhaka will have to be completely demolished and built if one is looking forward to improving it.
Ps. I hope the design is not this rumored modeling in bdnews. It's wacky tbh. Although my opinion might change once I see more clear photos of it.

 

[Roybot]

Well,Sayedpur-Cox-bazar flight will definitely take 1 hour. Al though it is not that common.Dhaka is in central location and almost all the flight took place from here and to.That's why we have half an hour flight mostly.


I doubt 180 million people fly within India each year.It sound like a highly developed country's figure.

http://www.aai.aero/traffic_news/TRApr2016.pdf

Just for comparison, in the USA roughly 50 Million/month, or 600 million passenger fly domestically in a year.Mind you USA's population is a quarter that of India's. Thats what the figure of a highly developed country should look like.

Now tell me if you agree with @Bilal9 's statement that majority of Bangladeshi middle class travel by flight, keeping in mind Bangladesh's domestic passenger figure of just 50,000 per month, total population of 160 Million, 7% of which (11.2 million) fall in the middle class bracket.

 

[Species]

They also secured Kuwaiti and Saudi investment for refinery sector.Also they has plan to import LNG from Qata.

The Kuwaiti proposal is cancelled I think.

Bangladesh does not allow private companies in petroleum refining business. Few of the companies tried including Bashundara but I guess they did not get the permit. GOB wants monopoly in importing and distributing petro products.
I read somewhere that new refineries are not economically feasible anymore considering the excess capacity in existing refineries around the world. Bangladesh could use Indian capacity as we are not the producer of crude anyways.

Even India is not a producer of crude oil. Importing refined oil is way more expensive than importing crude oil and refine them domestically. All we need to do is secure the source which has been done already. Our current refinery capacity is well below the demand, so its definitely feasible for us. Also, supply of fuel is a strategic issue and it's better to attain self-sufficiency on such matters.

 

[Arthur]

The Kuwaiti proposal is cancelled I think.

When did that happen?
They just agreed upon this last month!!

 

[Species]

When did that happen?
They just agreed upon this last month!!

It was cancelled last year, http://print.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/2015/09/01/106120

They planned to build a 10 million ton oil refinery capacity, I don't if the proposal has been revived or not.

 

[Arthur]

It was cancelled last year, http://print.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/2015/09/01/106120

They planned to build a 10 million ton oil refinery capacity, I don't if the proposal has been revived or not.

During the last official visit in 3- May-2016 by the Kuwaiti PM,they agreed to invest in government owned refineries mainly in Eastern Refinery;which will see increase in the refining capacity.Google it,the news is still fresh.

This is latest news.I haven't heard anything new about this 10 million ton refinery.

 

[Species]

During the last official visit in 3- May-2016 by the Kuwaiti PM,they agreed to invest in government owned refineries mainly in Eastern Refinery;which will see increase in the refining capacity.Google it,the news is still fresh.

This is latest news.I haven't heard anything new about this 10 million ton refinery.

Kuwait was given land in Maheshkhali to develop that oil refinery, I guess they didn't like the location or something.

If the news is correct than I think Kuwait will develop the 3rd unit of Eastern Refinery as the 2nd Unit is already given to a French company.

 

[Nilgiri]

Even India is not a producer of crude oil.

India produces crude, not a huge amount....but about 750 - 800 thousand barrels a day. Thats around 6 times Bangladesh total demand for refined products or around 1/5th of India's total demand.

Importing refined oil is way more expensive than importing crude oil and refine them domestically.

Not necessarily when you count the capex and land costs of building refineries. You have to build them huge and then be prepared to finance their early years with lots of extra money to ramp up their handling. They would only pay themselves off after many many years and a lot is dependent on the global market prices for refined products as well.

Thats why I feel Bangladesh will never commit to that model given its land scarcity. So iajdani is right for the most part.

 

[Species]

India produces crude, not a huge amount....but about 750 - 800 thousand barrels a day. Thats around 6 times Bangladesh total demand for refined products or around 1/5th of India's total demand.

Doesn't matter, the locally produced crude oil meets just a fraction of India's total demand which they have to import, so my argument stands correct.

Not necessarily when you count the capex and land costs of building refineries. You have to build them huge and then be prepared to finance their early years with lots of extra money to ramp up their handling. They would only pay themselves off after many many years and a lot is dependent on the global market prices for refined products as well.

Thats why I feel Bangladesh will never commit to that model given its land scarcity. So iajdani is right for the most part.

Not really, check out the links I have given here about oil refining in Bangladesh and all the experts said that we need to expand our oil refining capacity immediately to assist the economic growth as importing refined oil against crude oil eats up huge forex exchanges which could be easily saved. We are also missing out in saving more in the current situation of slumping oil prices. Also, as I said, supply of fuel is a strategic issue and we need to attain self-sufficiency.

 

[Species]

What about a similar project in Chittagong? ArcelorMittal was interested in investing in the steel industry and developing a seafront in Chittagong.

 

[Nilgiri]

Doesn't matter, the locally produced crude oil meets just a fraction of India's total demand which they have to import, so my argument stands correct.

You said India does not produce crude at all. If Bangladesh produced just a sixth of the crude India does, it would be self sufficient in petroleum currently. Its not an insignificant amount especially from a Bangladeshi context.

India's total production was worth 30 - 40 billion USD yearly in the days of oil price over 100 bucks a barrel. I'm not even including the localised economy of refining this amount....but direct crude production only.

Not really, check out the links I have given here about oil refining in Bangladesh and all the experts said that we need to expand our oil refining capacity immediately to assist the economic growth as importing refined oil against crude oil eats up huge forex exchanges which could be easily saved. We are also missing out in saving more in the current situation of slumping oil prices. Also, as I said, supply of fuel is a strategic issue and we need to attain self-sufficiency.

It's a balance that has to be made and you have to hedge on what you think the refined oil prices will be when they come online. If they are depressed, it will take longer to recuperate the investment...especially given opportunity cost of excess foreign capacity that could have been imported.

Now it makes sense to expand the existing facilities that you have where land acquisition is easily available/already done (like in the link you posted)...but I have no specific info on how far this can be done repeatedly (depends on surroundings, ownership, land-use, legislation etc). You talk of a unit 3 on top of unit 2...is there a unit 4/unit 5 etc. allocation?

Building a complete new greenfield refinery in Bangladesh is not something I would bet on (eg. the kuwait project you posted)....so at most Bangladesh may meet its domestic refining needs over time....but I doubt it will turn into a major exporter....since no one is going to loan you that kind of money for completely new refineries with the oil prices where they are right now and Bangladesh land scarcity compared to neighbourhood (India).

 

[Species]

You said India does not produce crude at all. If Bangladesh produced just a sixth of the crude India does, it would be self sufficient in petroleum currently. Its not an insignificant amount especially from a Bangladeshi context.

India's total production was worth 30 - 40 billion USD yearly in the days of oil price over 100 bucks a barrel. I'm not even including the localised economy of refining this amount....but direct crude production only.

First understand the context before jumping into an argument, just picking up a line and start on blabbering would only show your stupidity and lack of comprehension ability.

It's a balance that has to be made and you have to hedge on what you think the refined oil prices will be when they come online. If they are depressed, it will take longer to recuperate the investment...especially given opportunity cost of excess foreign capacity that could have been imported.

Now it makes sense to expand the existing facilities that you have where land acquisition is easily available/already done (like in the link you posted)...but I have no specific info on how far this can be done repeatedly (depends on surroundings, ownership, land-use, legislation etc). Building a complete new greenfield refinery in Bangladesh is not something I would bet on (eg. the kuwait project you posted)....so at most Bangladesh may meet its domestic refining needs over time....but I doubt it will turn into a major exporter....since no one is going to loan you that kind of money for completely new refineries with the oil prices where they are right now and Bangladesh land scarcity compared to neighbourhood (India).

We are one of only few emerging economies that has a shortfall of refined oil capacity. There is simply no debate to the need for expanding the oil refining capacity.

Being a petroleum exporting country is not the target now, rather it will be just a bonus. Achieving self-sufficiency is the main issue here.

Land acquisition shouldn't be any problem. Kuwait was allotted a 1000 acre land for that project. All the deep sea port projects in Bangladesh have a dedicated area for oil refining facilities i.e. Payra, Matarbari, Sonadia.