Bangladesh has targeted the procurement of 115 LNG cargoes in 2025, with an estimated cost of Tk 86,250 crore, considering each cargo at Tk 750 crore.
The industrial units will be given top priority for these costly imports, according to the Energy and Mineral Resources Division’s newly appointed secretary, Mohammad Saiful Islam.
He shared this information about the government’s annual gas procurement plans during a meeting with the leaders of the Forum for Energy Reporters Bangladesh (FERB) at the Bangladesh Secretariat on Tuesday.
He mentioned that the government has already procured 84 LNG cargoes at an estimated cost of Tk 56,000 crore in 2024.
“We have been able to supply 3000 MMCFD (million cubic feet per day) of natural gas, against a demand of 4000 MMCFD. Therefore, we are pursuing another government-to-government deal with Brunei’s state-owned company,” he said.
Regarding the tariff for the new deal, he explained that the government is working to set the tariff lower than that of QatarGas.
He added that the government is procuring 40 cargoes from Qatar and another 16 cargoes from Oman through state-level negotiations.
Additionally, Bangladesh plans to import lower-priced LNG cargoes from Kazakhstan and Algeria, he said.
To procure the additional LNG, the government would require a Tk 16,000 crore subsidy, he added.
He also mentioned that the division has proposed raising the gas tariff before the independent Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission to import the costly LNG.
The energy secretary explained that the import cost of LNG varies between Tk 72 and Tk 75.
He further informed that the division has already proposed to the Power Division to procure costly LNG at a mixed tariff rate of Tk 29.87 per cubic meter.
Md Saiful Islam also stated that the government will offer new gas connections to industries at the imported tariff rate.
“We also plan to increase the demand for gas with the mixed rate for industrial units in response to tariff pressure,” he added.
Recently, the division requested the Ministry of Finance to allocate Tk 16,000 crore in subsidy but has only received an assurance of Tk 5,000 crore to minimize the price gap. He emphasized, “We have no other alternative but to raise the gas tariff as per the approval.”
In the short-term plan, the government plans to transport gas from Bhola Island in LNG form.
He also mentioned that the government has a recoverable reserve of four trillion cubic feet of gas.
Furthermore, 100 additional wells will be drilled within a year, reducing the previous plan by three years under the mid-term plan, he added.
The secretary also highlighted that the interim government is conducting urgent onshore and offshore exploration activities under the long-term plan to reduce dependency in the future.