Bangladesh to buy 18 more LNG cargoes directly as gas supplies dwindle

With war raging across West Asia, shrinking imported-gas supplies and dwindling stocks have pushed the government to secure 18 more LNG cargoes through direct purchases, bypassing a tender.

To meet “urgent gas demand”, two LNG cargoes will be imported directly from French multinational energy and petroleum company TotalEnergies every month from October through June.

The Economic Affairs Cabinet Committee approved the proposal on Wednesday.

The finance ministry said the meeting also gave in-principle approval to purchase additional LNG cargoes if needed, subject to mutual agreement between the government and TotalEnergies.

Direct purchases without tenders require in-principle approval from the committee.

In August, the government approved 22 LNG cargoes in two phases without tenders. 

On Aug 19, it decided to buy 14 cargoes, two each from seven companies. 

Earlier, on Aug 6, it approved eight LNG cargoes and 5,000 tonnes of LPG to meet the country’s “emergency” LPG demand and ensure market “stability”.

Diesel, Furnace Oil, Jet Fuel Purchases

The Cabinet Committee on Government Purchase also met Wednesday.

It considered buying 220,000-250,000 tonnes of diesel and 50,000 tonnes of jet fuel from Singapore’s Trafigura Pte, at a recommended price of Tk 48.03 billion, for September-December.

It also approved buying 200,000-230,000 tonnes of diesel and 40,000 tonnes of jet fuel from Singapore’s Vitol Asia for Tk 43.26 billion.

For the same period, approval was proposed to buy 25,000-30,000 tonnes of diesel from Unipec Singapore Pte at Tk 7.92 billion.

Another proposal covered 50,000-75,000 tonnes of diesel from Vitol Asia for Tk 11.9 billion.

The government also considered buying 75,000-100,000 tonnes of furnace oil from Trafigura at a recommended price of Tk 8.01 billion.

For each purchase, the recommended bidder will negotiate the premium and reference price, with the final prices to be presented at the next meeting.