India-Bangladesh Friendship Pipeline Project

January 19, 2023

The India-Bangladesh Friendship Pipeline Project, signed in 2018 , will connect Siliguri in West Bengal in India and Parbatipur in Dinajpur district of Bangladesh. The Friendship pipeline from India will start supplying diesel to Bangladesh from June. The 131.5 kilometer long pipeline has been constructed for importing diesel from India, 126.5 km of which is in Bangladesh and 5 km in India.The IBFPL project aims to facilitate the transportation of imported fuel oil and reduce its transport costs for Bangladesh

Pre-commissioning of Diesel Imports

The pre-commissioning of diesel imports through this pipeline is currently underway

The international pipeline will carry diesel from the Siliguri based marketing terminal of the Numaligarh Refinery Limited (NRL) to Parbatipur depot of Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC)

Project Background

The groundbreaking ceremony for the India-Bangladesh Friendship Pipeline (IBFPL) was held in September 2018 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
The pipeline has a capacity of one million metric tonne per annum (MMTPA) and is being built under grant assistance from the government of India.
It will enable fuel oil products to be exported from India’s Siliguri Marketing Terminal in West Bengal State to Bangladesh

Dhaka-Delhi agreement on fuel oil?

According to the Dhaka-Delhi agreement, fuel oil would be transported to Bangladesh for 15 years through the pipeline in the first phase and the term would be extended on the consensus of the countries.

Way forward

There has been a steady increase in bilateral trade between India-Bangladesh.
In 2020, there was a year-on-year increase of 14%, which is a very encouraging figure to attain.
Bangladesh’s exports to India crossed the billion-dollar mark and it continues to increase on a very steady basis.
In 2021-22, Bangladesh has emerged as the largest trade partner for India in South Asia and the fourth largest destination for Indian exports worldwide.
As the two sides are also in talks for a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement.

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