Bangladesh to import three more LNG shipments to beat energy crisis

The Bangladesh government has moved to import three more shipments of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to ease a fuel crunch triggered by the Iran war.

The shipmentss, bought through international quotations, will cost Tk 21.12 billion, slightly less than the price paid for similar volumes of LNG bought this month and last month.

The Cabinet Committee on Government Purchase gave “partial” approval to the proposal at its 27th meeting at the Secretariat on Wednesday, the finance ministry said.

It did not explain what the partial approval meant. Finance Minister Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury president over the meeting.

Singapore's Vitol Asia and Aramco Trading will each supply one of these shipments, while the UK's TotalEnergies Gas and Power will provide the remaining shipment.

On Jun 3, the government decided to buy one shipment from BP Singapore and two from the UK's TotalEnergies Gas and Power, setting aside Tk 23.72 billion for the purchase.

In late May, the cabinet committee approved the import of two shipments from South Korea's POSCO International Corporation and one from the UK's TotalEnergies Gas and Power, at a cost of Tk 23.31 billion.

Before that, the committee's 20th meeting on May 7 signed off on a proposal to buy three shipments from the spot market.

Those three shupments, bought from Vitol Asia, BP Singapore and Gunvor Singapore, cost a total of Tk 21.86 billion.

Wednesday's meeting also cleared the import of 15,000 tonnes of rock sulphur, also known as bright yellow sulphur crude, along with 25,000 tonnes of bulk granular urea fertiliser and a separate consignment of urea fertiliser.