Dhaka, April 18 -- Bangladesh's only state-owned oil refinery, Eastern Refinery PLC (ERL), is on the verge of closure amid a global crude oil crisis. Two of the company's five production units have already been shut down.

The crude oil refinery may shut down temporarily if new oil shipments do not arrive soon. Discussions have begun on the extent to which the country's fuel supply system will be disrupted if the Eastern Refinery is shut down amid the conflict in the Middle East.

The Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) and the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources say that a very small amount of the country's fuel oil demand is met by Eastern Refinery, while a much larger portion is met by imports of refined fuel oil.

Despite the ...