Bangladesh interim government approves resumption of spot LNG imports

Bangladesh will resume purchasing LNG from the spot market as the country’s newly formed interim government has decided to import the fuel after a two-month hiatus, a senior Petrobangla official told S&P Global Commodity Insights on Sept. 4.

The government’s Committee on Economic Affairs approved a proposal of the energy and mineral resources division under the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources to import the fuel from the previously shortlisted 23 companies, after considering the urgency of LNG imports.

The interim government will follow the Public Procurement Rules 2008 to ensure competitiveness of the bidding process instead of the previous regime’s Quick Enhancement of Electricity and Energy Supply (Special Provision) Act 2010 (Amended 2021), also known as the Speedy Act, the official added.

The PPR-2008 allows bids to be invited from a select group of suppliers, previously identified through a screening process, to purchase LNG from spot market, but no negotiations will be entertained once the new rule is applied, the official said.

Previously, state-owned Rupantarita Prakritik Gas Co Ltd would occasionally negotiate with the lowest bidders if the spot LNG prices were deemed to be too high by the evaluation committee, he added.

However, the offline Summit LNG Terminal is a major roadblock to the resumption of spot LNG imports, and the company has not yet submitted a date for resuming operations at its 3.75 million metric ton per year floating storage and regasification unit, the official said.

Bangladesh had stopped issuing tenders for spot LNG from the first week of July, and Summit FSRU was taken offline since May 30 following an accident during Cyclone Remal.