Move to buy 7 spot LNG cargoes in Jun

FE Team | Published: May 23, 2026 22:06:23

FE REPORT
The government has moved to purchase seven liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargoes from the spot market in June, the highest monthly volume, to meet rising domestic gas demand.
The BNP-led government had also purchased seven spot LNG cargoes in each of April and May to avert any supply shortage during the summer season, a senior official of Petrobangla told The Financial Express on Saturday.
Petrobangla has been supplying around 1,050 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) of regasified LNG (RLNG) since early May by increasing imports from the volatile spot market at higher prices.
A couple of weeks ago, the country re-gasified around 1,076 mmcfd of LNG, the highest volume since Bangladesh started importing LNG on April 24, 2018, official data showed.
Currently, the country's two operational floating storage and regasification units (FSRUs) have a combined LNG regasification capacity of around 1,100 mmcfd.
State-run Rupantarita Prakritik Gas Company Ltd (RPGCL) floated a fresh tender last week to purchase one more spot LNG cargo and retendered for three additional cargoes for delivery during June 15-16, June 21-22, June 24-25 and June 27-28 delivery windows.
The move comes amid the Middle East conflict and disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz. Each LNG cargo contains around 3.36 million MMBtu and will be delivered to Moheshkhali Island, with discharge options at either of the country's two FSRUs, according to officials.
RPGCL is part of state-owned Bangladesh Oil, Gas and Mineral Corporation, also known as Petrobangla, and is responsible for LNG trading in Bangladesh.
An RPGCL official said the company retendered for three spot cargoes after suppliers quoted higher-than-expected prices in the original tender floated earlier this week.
If the latest tenders are successful, Bangladesh's total spot LNG purchases this year will rise to 26 cargoes, of which 24 were bought after the outbreak of the Middle East war, he added.
Bangladesh has increased spot market purchases after some long-term LNG suppliers from Qatar and Oman suspended deliveries citing force majeure, said the official.
Bangladesh imported a total of 49 spot LNG cargoes in 2025, he said.
Since LNG imports began in 2018, Bangladesh has imported around 36.43 million tonnes of LNG through 588 cargoes as of March 2026, according to RPGCL data.
Petrobangla data showed that the country's total natural gas supply stood at around 2.74 billion cubic feet per day as of May 22, including around 1,066 mmcfd of re-gasified LNG.
Azizjst@yahoo.com