Kuwait scraps plan to build oil refinery in Bangladesh

Kuwait Petroleum International (KPI) has scrapped plans to build an oil refinery in Bangladesh. The plan was to build a 10 million-tonne-per-year crude oil refinery for a reported USD 6.0 billion investment.

KPI, a subsidiary of state-owned Kuwait Petroleum Corp., plans to make the investment in another Asian country, local media reported.

The government had offered KPI a 1,000-acre site on Moheshkhali Island in the Bay of Bengal for the refinery.

Currently, Eastern Refinery Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of Bangladesh Petroleum Corp., has a 1.5 million tonne refinery, the only one in the country. The government has been trying to attract investors in the sector, as Bangladesh imports 6.0 million tonnes of refined petroleum products and crude oil annually.