Published : 31 Jul 2026, 12:16 AM
Updated : 08 Sep 2026, 09:29 AM
The government has approved a Tk 9.43 billion LNG import from Singapore-based Vital Asia to shore up gas supplies after the Moheshkhali FSRU breakdown.
The proposal was approved at a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Government Purchase (CCGP) at the Secretariat on Thursday, presided over by Finance Minister Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury.
The cargo will be procured through an international competitive tender.
The price is significantly higher than the average cost of LNG imports in recent months, following the energy crisis triggered by the conflict in West Asia.
LNG prices have been rising since March, with the cost of a single cargo nearing Tk 8 billion.
However, in the last week of June, the government said the average import cost had fallen below Tk 7 billion per cargo.
A week later, the CCGP reported that the average cost had climbed back above Tk 7 billion. With the latest purchase, the cost has reached about Tk 9.5 billion.
Meanwhile, the Floating Storage and Regasification Unit (FSRU) in Moheshkhali has remained shut since Jul 21 after a fire triggered a technical fault.
The outage has cut gas supply to the national grid by about 450 million cubic feet per day.
The fire damaged the terminal's power, control systems, and data cables carrying different devices.
Officials had earlier reported that experts from the UK, Romania, and Singapore are working on the repair, along with local engineers.
LNG brought by sea is received and stored in floating terminals or FSRUs. Later, it is converted back into gas and sent to the national grid through pipelines. There are two floating terminals in Moheshkhali to complete this process.
On Monday, State Minister for Power Aninda Islam Amit hinted that it may take another two to three weeks for the terminal to be fully operational.
He said, “We are hoping that the gas crisis will start to ease somewhat from next week. If the work goes according to [engineers’] plan, then it will be possible to supply 280 to 300 million cubic feet of gas to the national grid in the first phase.”
“[Engineers] are hoping that 100 percent capacity will be restored next week.”
Prime Minister Tarique Rahman has sought Malaysia's help to deal with the energy crisis caused by the breakdown of the LNG terminal.
Amit shared the development at a briefing, saying: “The prime minister wrote to Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim on Monday seeking Malaysia's cooperation in narrowing Bangladesh's gas supply gap.
“The letter was handed over on Tuesday by the Prime Minister's Education Advisor Mahdi Amin.
“Anwar later assured over the phone that he would consult the relevant ministries and officials and inform Bangladesh as soon as possible how Malaysia could provide support.”
