India to weigh domestic needs before fuel aid to neighbours

Responding to a request from Bangladesh for diesel supplies, officials said India has long been a major exporter of refined petroleum products to countries in its neighbourhood.

“India’s refining capacity, our own requirement and diesel availability will be factored in while taking decisions,” a government official said, indicating that New Delhi was carefully balancing regional energy cooperation with domestic needs.

India has been supplying high-speed diesel to Bangladesh from the Numaligarh Refinery in Assam since 2007 through multiple modes including waterways and rail. The arrangement was later strengthened with the commissioning of the cross-border India-Bangladesh Friendship Pipeline, which directly connects India’s Siliguri marketing terminal to Bangladesh’s Parbatipur depot.

A formal sale-purchase agreement for diesel supply was signed in October 2017 between Numaligarh Refinery and the Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation on mutually agreed commercial terms.

Officials noted that diesel exports to Bangladesh had largely continued under this arrangement since 2017, reflecting India’s people-centric and development-oriented approach to bilateral ties.

However, with the ongoing war in West Asia affecting global energy flows and shipping routes, New Delhi is taking a cautious approach before committing additional supplies.

The government has also received similar requests from other neighbouring countries, including Sri Lanka and Maldives, seeking assistance in meeting their fuel requirements.