Bangladesh agrees to buy LNG from Japan’s Jera

The Bangladesh government has decided to buy one cargo of liquefied natural gas from Japan’s Jera Co at a ‘spot market’ rate in an effort to rapidly increase the fuel supply and power production.

The total cost of the shipment will be Tk 6.9 billion. The state-run Rupantarita Prakritik Gas, a company under Petrobangla, will buy 3.36 trillion Btu of LNG at $16.5 per unit, according to Syed Mahbub Khan, additional secretary of the Cabinet Division.

The proposal was one of six passed by the cabinet committee on government purchase at a meeting on Wednesday, led by Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal.

The government has moved back to the LNG spot market to keep up with the high power demand during the irrigation season, Ramadan and the oncoming summer, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said on Feb 8.

The government went ahead with buying LNG at higher rates for uninterrupted supply to captive power plants in the export-oriented industries, the prime minister had said in parliament.