Dhaka (Platts)--30Dec2011/133 am EST/633 GMT
Bangladesh has raised the retail prices of petroleum products with effect from Friday to offset state-owned Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation's losses in the wake of a depreciating taka, a top government official said. The government has increased by Taka 5 (6.10 cents)/liter the prices of 0.25% sulfur gasoil, superior kerosene, 95 RON and 92 RON gasoline, and 180 CST high sulfur fuel oil with 3.5% sulfur content . This is the third time oil product prices have been hiked in fiscal 2011-12 (July-June). After the latest hike, gasoil and kerosene now costs Taka 61/liter, 92 RON gasoline Taka 91/liter, 95 RON gasoline Taka 94/liter and HSFO Taka 60/liter, the official said. Despite the increase, BPC will incur an estimated loss of Taka 17-18/liter on the sale of gasoil and kerosene and Taka 10/liter on furnace oil, BPC Chairman Abubakar Siddique said Friday. Surging oil prices in the international market coupled with a sharp depreciation of the taka against the dollar have escalated BPC's losses. In the past 10 years, BPC made a profit only in fiscal 2008-9 of Taka 3.22 billion when international oil prices fell in the wake of the global economic crisis. BPC incurred a loss of around Taka 72.08 billion in fiscal 2010-11, up from Taka 20.49 billion in fiscal 2009-10.--- M Azizur Rahman, newsdesk@platts.comSimilar stories appear in Oilgram News. See more information at http://www.platts.com/Products/oilgramnews