A record loss of nearly one billion dollars is about to be posted by Bangladesh's state-owned oil company.

The loss is due to sky-rocketing global crude oil prices.

The chairman of the Bangladesh Petroleum Corp, Anwarul Karim, said the nation's monopoly oil importer had been selling fuel at prices set by the government but which did not reflect the purchase cost.

Diesel, the main fuel in Bangladesh, is losing about 35 cents per litre.

Bangladesh has no domestic oil fields and its fuel import costs this year will be more than three billion dollars or 18 percent of the country's annual overall import bill.