The country’s sole state-owned oil refinery, Eastern Refinery PLC Limited, has reportedly suspended operations due to a shortage of crude oil.

Officials confirmed on Monday that refinery operations came to a halt in the afternoon after the facility exhausted its remaining crude supply.

However, the Energy Division assured that there is sufficient stock of refined fuel in the country and that the supply chain will remain unaffected.

Officials said the refinery had continued operations by processing around 5,000 tonnes of crude accumulated in the pipeline of the Single Point Mooring (SPM) system at Maheshkhali, along with dead stock from four storage tanks. Despite these measures, production could not be sustained.

Typically, the refinery processes about 4,500 tonnes of crude oil per day. Due to supply constraints, output had already been reduced to around 3,500 tonnes daily since last month. By March 4, usable crude reserves had dropped below 2,000 tonnes.

Attempts to reach Managing Director Md Sharif Hasnat and Chairman of Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation Md Rezanur Rahman for comment were unsuccessful.

According to BPC data, Bangladesh imports between 6.5 and 6.8 million tonnes of fuel annually, with diesel and crude oil accounting for the largest share. Around 1.5 million tonnes of crude oil”mainly sourced from Middle Eastern countries”is refined domestically at Eastern Refinery.

The supply disruption stems from a halt in crude imports over the past two months, linked to tensions arising from the Iran”United States tensions. The next shipment is expected to arrive in the first week of May, leaving refinery authorities to wait until then to resume operations.