India could transport Russian gas and oil to Bangladesh, Economic Times says

India is exploring the possibility of emerging as a transit country to transport Russian oil and gas to Bangladesh after Turkey said it wanted to act as a transit country for such supplies, according to a report from the Economic Times.

According to The Economic Times, Delhi is exploring ideas to facilitate transit given its geographic location and close political ties to Dhaka.

Turkey’s Ambassador to Bangladesh, Mustafa Osman Turan, said Wednesday (November 16th) that his country would be “more than happy” to help Bangladesh by becoming a transit country for Russian energy supplies, including the country of Southeast Asia needs to deal with fuel shortages.

This comes as Turkey plans to increase its influence in Bangladesh and India monitors the trajectory of Bangladesh-Turkey relations over the past few years.

In South Asia, besides India, Sri Lanka bought fossil fuels from Russia amid its economic crisis. Bangladesh has been eyeing cut-price Russian oil to meet its growing energy and electricity needs.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday November 20 hoped that the import of fuel oil from India by pipeline will start next year.

“Bangladesh wanted to import oil from India by pipeline and I hope it will start next year,” the prime minister said as Assam Legislative Assembly Speaker Biswajit Daimary called Ganabhaban to his official residence.

The 130 km India-Bangladesh Friendship Pipeline (IBFPL) project aims to export petroleum products from Siliguri Marketing Terminal in West Bengal to Bangladesh.

Sheikh Hasina also said that border haats between Bangladesh and India in different parts of the border between the two countries will resume their function as these were shut down during the coronavirus pandemic period.