Bangladesh Bank has ramped up its foreign currency supply to the Energy and Mineral Resources Division to ensure the continued import of petroleum fuels and gas from international suppliers and locally operating foreign companies.
According to Energy Secretary Nurul Alam, the division has been receiving increased foreign currency support from the central bank to meet its obligations to foreign gas and petroleum suppliers.
“Previously, we were getting around $200 million per week to pay our gas and petroleum bills to foreign companies. Now, we’re receiving more than that,” Alam told UNB.
These remarks come as the government faces mounting unpaid bills to foreign gas and fuel suppliers, which have now exceeded $500 million. The recent foreign currency crunch has raised concerns over the smooth import of petroleum fuels and liquefied natural gas (LNG) and the purchase of natural gas from local fields operated by foreign companies.
Official sources revealed that the state-owned Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC), responsible for petroleum fuel imports, currently owes $220 million, while Petrobangla, the state-run gas company, has a pending bill of $280 million to foreign companies, including Chevron Bangladesh.
Nurul Alam expressed optimism that the payment situation will improve as the Energy and Mineral Resources Division engages in direct negotiations with suppliers. “We hope there will be no issues in continuing our import of petroleum and LNG from abroad and purchasing gas from locally operating foreign companies,” he added.
Bangladesh annually imports 6.5 million tons of various petroleum fuels under separate contracts, costing between $6 billion and $7 billion. Additionally, the country imports 5.06 million metric tons of LNG from suppliers like Qatar Gas, Oman Trading, and the Spot market, at a cost of $4.555 billion.
Beyond energy imports, Bangladesh faces significant foreign currency obligations for electricity purchases from private power companies, which now total over $4.5 billion.
The pressure on fuel and LNG imports intensified after the country’s foreign currency reserves dropped below $19 billion in 2023, down from over $48 billion in 2022. This decline even forced the government to temporarily reduce LNG imports last year.