The major depots have become overburdened, as they could not supply diesel to other depots due to transport problems stemming from heavy rains across the country, official sources said.

Overseas Primer carrying 33,000 tonnes of diesel from India and Al-Deerah with 21,900 tonnes of diesel from Kuwait arrived at the port on Saturday and yesterday afternoon.

The sources also said the demand for diesel was poor because of the incessant downpours.

Non-availability of oil also forced the shutdown of Eastern Refinery Limited (ERL) for four days until it resumed production at around 2:00pm yesterday.

According to the sources, BPC had a total diesel reserve of 2.84 lakh tonnes in its 19 depots across the country till yesterday. Of the amount, stocks at four major depots including the BPC Main Installation (MI) in Chittagong and at ERL stood at 2.58 lakh tonnes.

BPC had a stock of 1,23,599 tonnes of diesel at its MI in Chittagong while 66,780 tonnes at ERL till yesterday.

Besides, diesel reserve was recorded at 26,600 tonnes at Baghabari, 25,700 tonnes at Dhaka and 15,914 tonnes at the depots in Doulatpur till yesterday.

Padma, Meghna and Jamuna, the three marketing agencies of BPC, got stuck with undelivered fuel oil at different points of water routes in Dhaka following collapse of distribution network due to rains, the sources said.

Meanwhile, MT Al Badia, another oil tanker, is scheduled to arrive in Chittagong Port on June 21 carrying 33,000 tonnes of diesel from Kuwait, the sources added.