Bangladesh owes US$348 million in outstanding bills to the international oil companies (IOCs) and the LNG suppliers, officials said.
The Ministry of Finance (MoF) and the Energy and Mineral Resources Division (EMRD) officials said the amount fell due to different LNG suppliers and IOCs working in Bangladesh.
"We have sought funds from the MoF to pay the outstanding bills and import LNG in a bid to meet the country's daily energy demand," said an EMRD official.
Since Bangladesh needs to procure LNG to meet the local fuel demand, the government has to clear huge bills for the purpose.
The government procures LNG at higher prices and supply to the consumers at lower prices which create a big burden on the state coffer every year.
The EMRD recently sought Tk 5.0 billion "from us to pay the outstanding dues" on account of the LNG import, said an MoF official.
Early this year, "We had provided Tk 20 billion to the EMRD for paying the LNG bills and clearing the dues to IOCs, he added.
Due to the rising demand for natural gas and its fast depletion, the government of Bangladesh decided to import LNG in 2017.
Currently, the total demand for gas across various sectors amounts to nearly 3,750 Million Cubic Feet per Day (MCFD) which is likely to hit 3,990MCFD in 2025-26.
However, the combined gas exploration efforts of five national and international gas exploration companies -- BAPEX, BGFCL, SGFL, Chevron, and Tullow -- have resulted in an average gas production of some 2550MCFD.
Last year, Bangladesh imported 5.2 million tonnes of LNG, according to data from Kpler.
In 2022, Bangladesh imported 5.06 million tonnes of LNG from Qatar Gas, Oman Trading, and the spot market at a cost of US$4.55 billion.
The $348 million is owed till date to the LNG and gas suppliers, namely QatarEnergy, a state-owned petroleum company of Qatar, and Chevron, a US gas exploration company, as well as other IOCs, MoF and EMRD officials said.
The dues to the LNG suppliers are $167 million and the remaining amount of $181 million is owed to the IOCs, the officials said.
Another EMRD official said the outstanding bills on account of LNG import and dues to IOCs have built up due to the recent dollar crisis in Bangladesh.
Since Bangladesh needs to import power too from different local and foreign Independent Power Producers (IPPs), it is also required to spend from the forex reserves for paying the huge amount of bills, he added.
The government purchases electricity from India, Nepal and from some IPPs and rental power producers in Bangladesh.
Bangladesh owes some US$900 million to the IPPs and rental power plants, MoF officials said.
"We will gradually repay the outstanding bills to the LNG suppliers and the IOCs. We are hopeful of repaying all the dues within next few months," said the EMRD official.
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