The Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation paid all its debts to foreign suppliers in just two months, with the help of seven private banks.

At the beginning of September, BPC owed $346 million to its foreign suppliers. By October 29, the company had paid all dues.

BPC officials said foreign suppliers were not accepting letters of credit (LC) opened with private banks.

Public banks have also been unable to issue new letters of credit for fuel imports due to the dollar crisis the country has been experiencing since last July.

These banks were also unable to make payments on the old letters of credit. As a result, BPC’s contributions to foreign suppliers have skyrocketed.

Some top BPC officials said the company owed $406 million to eight foreign fuel suppliers through August 12. On August 27, contributions increased to $420 million. Some foreign companies then stopped distributing fuel.

The companies from which BPC imports oil are Vitol Asia Private Limited and Unipec Singapore Private Limited of Singapore, Petro China Limited of China, Petco Trading Labuan Company Limited of Malaysia, Emirates National Oil Company of the United Arab Emirates, PT Bumi Siak Pusako d Indonesia and Indian Oil Corporation Limited of India and Numaligarh Refinery Limited.

As the arrears of public banks increased day by day due to the dollar crisis, the BPC started opening letters of credit with private banks with the authorization of different ministries.

As a result, private banks were able to provide enough dollars to cover the LCs and the BPC’s arrears began to decline in early October.

BPC officials said in early September that foreign suppliers owed the company $346 million. By early October, BPC’s arrears had fallen to $110 million.

People linked to the fuel oil sector said such incidents are rare in BPC’s history.

BPC Chairman Amin Ul Ahsan told The Daily Star: “We were able to settle the dues quickly thanks to the cooperation of private banks in opening the LCs. Although we had sufficient funds, we were unable to make payments to foreign companies due to lack of dollars. in public banks. »

BPC imports 15 batches of refined oil and one batch of crude oil, officials said. The company requires a running capital of around Taka 15,000 crore per month to import fuel oil.

Among the seven private banks where BPC has opened LCs, The Daily Star was able to get in touch with City Bank.

The bank’s chief executive, Mashrur Arefin, said fuel oil imports were hampered when government banks were unable to make payments in bills of exchange due to the dollar crisis in July and August.

He said the LCs were later opened at City Bank on the request of Bangladesh Bank Governor Ahsan H Mansur and PBOC Chairman Amin.

“We responded to the BPC’s call to protect the country’s reputation in critical times. So far, we have issued letters of credit worth $132 million to the BPC,” Mashrur said.

He also said the bank was in a good position against foreign currencies due to increasing remittances and export credentials.