Dhaka, July 21 -- Although the construction work of Single Point Mooring (SPM) with double pipeline ended in March 2024, its operation will not begin until next year due to procrastination in the appointment of operations and maintenance (O&M) contractor.

The SPM has remained idle for nearly a year despite successful commissioning in April and formal handover in August 2024, resulting in significant financial losses for state-run Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC).

On 30 April, the BPC, the implementing agency of the SPM project, invited international tenders to appoint a contractor, but the deadline for bid submission was extended from June 19 to July 8, contributing to delay. However, only two foreign firms, one from Indonesia and...