Dhaka, March 14 -- An Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) mission has assured Bangladesh of providing US$1.0 billion in loan for setting up a 3.0-million-tonne-capacity oil refinery, officials say and hope it would cut import dependence for petroleum fuels.

The IsDB technical team extensively reviewed the ERL capacity during its 4-day mission on March 8-11 and agreed to provide the $1.0-billion financing package in phases for financing the Eastern Refinery Limited (ERL) Unit-2 project, a senior Economic Relations Division (ERD) official said Saturday.

"The loan is expected to be approved at the IsDB board next month and we would sign a deal in June this year," he added.

If finalized, this would represent one of the single -largest project ...