Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bangladeshi counterpart Sheikh Hasina inaugurated a Rs 377-crore pipeline to transport diesel from India to northern Bangladesh via video conference.

Pipeline from Siliguri to Parbatipur

• The India-Bangladesh Friendship Pipeline (IBFPL) will supply up to 1 million tonnes per annum of diesel to Bangladesh.

• It is the first cross-border energy pipeline between the two neighbours.

• The pipeline will start a new chapter in India-Bangladesh relations.

• Currently, diesel is supplied to Bangladesh through a 512-km rail route. 

• The 132-km pipeline running from Siliguri in India to Parbatipur in Bangladesh was built at a cost of Rs 377 crore.

• This would not just help save on transportation costs but also reduce the carbon footprint of moving the fuel.

• The foundation stone of this pipeline was laid by both prime ministers in September 2018. 

• The construction of the pipeline project started in 2018.

• Of the total cost of Rs 377 crore of the project, Rs 285 crore of the Bangladesh section of the pipeline has been borne by the government of India under grant assistance.

• Numaligarh Refinery Limited in Assam has been supplying petroleum products to Bangladesh since 2015.

• The pipeline will supply high speed diesel initially to seven districts in northern Bangladesh.

• The operationalisation of the pipeline will enhance ongoing energy cooperation between the two countries and will further growth in Bangladesh, particularly in the agriculture sector. 

India-Bangladesh energy cooperation

• In the energy sector, cooperation between two nations is highly successful. Today India is supplying more than 1,100 MW of electricity to Bangladesh. 

• Also, the first unit of the 2x660 MW Maitree thermal power project in Bagerhat district of Khulna division of Bangladesh has started and the second unit will also start soon. 

• The project has been developed under India’s concessional financing scheme. It is being built by Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) for Bangladesh-India Friendship Power Company Pvt Ltd. 

• The first 660 MW unit started operations in October last year and the second similar capacity unit would go on stream soon. 

• The petroleum trade between the two nations has crossed $1 billion. 

• The hydrocarbon cooperation between the two nations is across the entire value chain — from upstream oil and gas exploration to midstream transportation and downstream.

• Bangladesh is now India’s biggest trade partner in South Asia and the bilateral trade has grown from $9 billion to $18 billion in the last five years. It has also become the fourth largest export destination for India with the exports registering a growth of over 66 per cent from $9.69 billion in 2020-21 to $16.15 billion in 2021-22.

• Bangladesh is an important partner for India under its “Neighbourhood First” policy and the cooperation extends to areas of security, trade, commerce, energy, connectivity, science and technology, defence and maritime affairs, among others.

• The two countries are currently in the process of formulating a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), which could see India’s exports to the country double to $32 billion in the near term.

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