Eastern Refinery resumes full production after 26-day shutdown

The country’s only state-owned oil refinery, Eastern Refinery Limited, has resumed full-scale production after a 26-day shutdown caused by a severe crude oil shortage, officials said on Friday (May 8).

Eastern Refinery Limited has resumed full production after a 26-day shutdown caused by a severe crude oil shortage, officials said Friday.

Production at the main processing unit restarted at 8:00am after fresh crude supplies arrived from Saudi Arabia, helping restore activity at the country’s only state-owned refinery.

Managing Director of Eastern Refinery, Engineer Sharif Hasnat, confirmed that processing began in the morning, though full production required several hours to stabilise.

“The plant started at 8:00am. However, processing takes a few hours before full production begins,” he said.

The shutdown, which began on April 12, was triggered by dwindling crude reserves amid global supply disruptions. A 100,000-ton crude shipment recently reached Kutubdia anchorage aboard the vessel MT Ninemia, enabling the restart.

Another crude tanker, MT Fossil, is expected later this month to further ease supply pressure.

The refinery processes around 1.5 million tonnes of crude annually and produces roughly 4,000 tonnes of diesel per day, playing a key role in Bangladesh’s fuel supply chain.