Bangladesh’s only state-owned oil refinery, Eastern Refinery Limited (ERL), has resumed operations after remaining shut for 26 days due to a crude oil shortage.

The main plant was restarted at full capacity at 8:00 am on Friday (May 8). Officials said that while the facility has been switched on, it will take several hours before full-scale production begins.

ERL Managing Director Engineer Sharif Hasnat said the decision to restart operations came after the arrival of 100,000 tons of crude oil from Saudi Arabia. The refinery had been forced to suspend production since April 12 amid disruptions in crude imports and geopolitical tensions in the Middle East. The last crude shipment had arrived in February.

ERL has a daily refining capacity of around 4,000 tons of diesel and plays a key role in the country’s fuel supply chain.

According to the Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC), Bangladesh’s annual fuel demand is about 7.2 million tons, of which ERL processes approximately 1.5 million tons.

Officials noted that rising risks in the Strait of Hormuz have led to the use of alternative shipping routes via Fujairah and Yanbu ports. They expressed hope that production will return to normal levels once the supply situation stabilizes.