Bangladesh Approves £62m Spot Market LNG Cargo to Ease Energy Crunch

Bangladesh has approved the purchase of a fresh liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargo from the spot market at a cost of approximately 949.43 crore BDT (equivalent to roughly 77 million USD or 62 million GBP) to keep up with domestic energy demand.

The decision was finalised during a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Government Purchase held at the Secretariat on Thursday, 30 July. Chaired by Finance Minister Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury, the cabinet body approved the proposal submitted by the Energy and Mineral Resources Division to import the liquefied gas from Singapore-based Vitol Asia Pte Ltd.

Under the agreed terms, the trading firm will sell each million British thermal units (MMBtu) of LNG for 22.35 USD. According to an official press release issued by the Cabinet Division, the shipment is scheduled to arrive at the country’s floating storage and regasification units between 15 and 16 August.

The purchase is being executed through an international request-for-quotation process under Rule 105(3)(a) of the Public Procurement Rules 2025. Vitol Asia secured the contract after emerging as the lowest responsive bidder among international trading houses. Officials confirmed that this marks the 42nd spot-market LNG cargo procured by the South Asian nation for the year 2026.

Bangladesh remains heavily dependent on imported natural gas to fire its power plants, feed industrial units, and supply raw materials to domestic fertiliser manufacturing hubs. Declining reserves in mature offshore and onshore gas fields have forced state-run Petrobangla to rely increasingly on a blend of long-term supply contracts and volatile international spot markets. High global energy prices and foreign exchange pressures have made these spot market acquisitions a significant fiscal burden, yet necessary to prevent widespread load-shedding and industrial disruption.

In the same procurement meeting, the cabinet committee cleared a separate proposal from the Ministry of Industries to import 30,000 metric tonnes of bagged granular urea fertiliser from the Karnaphuli Fertiliser Company Limited (KAFCO), Bangladesh, for the 2026–27 financial year.

The first lot of fertiliser import under the new fiscal year will cost 132.62 crore BDT (around 10.8 million USD), with the price fixed at 357.25 USD per metric tonne. The prompt approval aims to ensure sufficient agricultural inputs for farmers ahead of the upcoming crop cultivation cycles.