The government will import a cargo of liquefied natural gas (LNG), having 33.66 lakh MMBtu, from the Vitol Asia Pte Ltd of Singapore at a cost Tk 429.40 crore to meet the growing gas demand in the country. Cabinet Committee on Government Purchase (CCGP) in a meeting, with Finance Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali in the chair, approved a proposal of state-owned Petrobangla in this regard. As per the proposal, placed by the Energy and Mineral Resources on behalf of the Petrobangla, each unit of the LNG will cost $9.93, a price lowest in last two years. Govt to procure LNG, fertiliser, lentil and edible oil After the meeting, Additional Secretary of the Cabinet Division Syed Mahmud Khan informed the reporters that the supplier was selected from the limited listed companies through a bidding in the international spot market under Master Sale and Purchase Agreement (MSPA). The Rapid Increase in Supply of Electricity and Energy (Special Provisions) Act 2010 (Amendment 2021) was followed in this regard. Sources in the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry said that Bangladesh has planned to import a total of 13 LNG cargoes from January to June this year. This has been the second cargo as the first one was given approval in the last week’s meeting on  January 22 under which Switzerland-based company 'TotalEnergies Gas and Power Limited' will supply a cargo having the same volume 33.66 lakh MMBtu with each unit price  $10.88. Gas supply to Ctg, elsewhere starts improving as LNG terminal resumes production Earlier the government signed 'Master Sale and Purchase' Agreement (MSPA) with 22 shortlisted companies  to import LNG from the international spot market. Imports of LNG from the spot market were suspended from July 2022 to January 2023 as the price of LNG from the spot market increased many times while the government was facing dollar crisis. Currently, the country has been experiencing a severe gas crisis as production came down to nearly 2500 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) while the demand is about 4000 mmcfd. As a result, household consumers in many areas are not getting gas for cooking while power and industrial productions are being seriously disrupted due to gas shortage.  In the meantime, the government increased the gas price for both captive power and public sector power generation on January 18, 2023. Cabinet body nods import of refined petroleum, LNG  Through an order, the price of gas used for power generation was set at Tk 14 per cubic metre, while the price of gas to be used in captive power and industry was set at Tk 30 per cubic metre. Meanwhile, the CCGP approved two separate proposals to import a total of 60,000 metric tons (MT) of urea fertiliser from Qatar and Saudi Arabia at a cost of Tk 223.84 crore under the state contracts.

Cabinet Committee on Public Purchase on Wednesday approved eight procurement proposals including the import of LNG.  Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal presided over the meeting. As per a proposal, placed by Energy and Mineral Resources Division, state-owned Petrobangla will import 3.360 million MMBtu of LNG from Vitol Asia Pte Ltd, Singapore, at a cost of Tk 267.57 crore. Each unit will cost $8.01. Also read: Cabinet purchase body approves LNG, rice import Three proposals of the Roads Transport and Highways Division received the nod of the Cabinet body. As per the proposals, Roads and Highways Department will award a Tk 188.35 crore contract to Spectra Engineers Ltd, under package No-PW-02 of its Project “Installing Excel Load Control Centre at the Transport Sourcing Points in the Important Highways”. The Roads and Highways Department will extend the cost of 25km road improvement from Cox’s Bazar to Ukhia by Tk 13.43 crore under the package No-WP-01 of Cox’s Bazar-Tekhnaf Road Development project and also Tk 16 crore for 25km road improvement from Ukhia to Unchiprang road of the same project under the package No-WP-02.   Also read: Will seek details of Vitol Asia on LNG supply: Finance Minister The committee approved two proposals of the Railway Ministry. As per approval, Bangladesh Railway (BR) will award a contract of Tk 433.78 crore to Joint Venture of (1) CREC and (2) CCCL, Dhaka, to implement the project: Construction of Broadguage Rail Truck from Madhukhali to Madura via Kamarkhali under its package No-WD-1. The BR will award Tk 448.98 crore contract to Joint Venture of (1) CRCC and (2) MAHL, Dhaka, to implement the work under the package No-WD-02 of the same project. Also read: Cabinet body okays LNG import from int’l spot market The Cabinet body approved a proposal of the Health Services Division to procure Tk 80,734 cartons of 27 kinds of drugs from the state-owned Essential Drugs Company Limited, for community-based healthcare (CBHC) authority through direct procurement method.