State-owned Rupantarita Prakritik Gas Company Limited has planned to import three extra cargos of Liquefied Natural Gas to check power outage in winter while the price of the item is increasing in the international spot market and the dollar shortage deepens at home.
Bangladesh is depended on natural gas for producing 50 per cent of 1,5000MW of power while facing a daily shortfall of around 2,000MW.
A high official of the RPGCL on Wednesday said they had already taken permission from the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs to import nine LNG cargos from the international market for the last six months of the current calendar year.
Until August, import order for six cargoes was received from the Cabinet Committee on Government Purchase, said the official preferring anonymity.
Both the cabinet committees are headed by finance minister AHM Mustafa Kamal.
Proposals for two more import orders of LNG cargoes from RPGCL, a subsidiary of Petrobangla, are waiting for review by the Cabinet Committee on Government Purchase in a meeting today, according to Petrobangla.
However, the RPGCL official said that three extra cargoes would be required as Power Development Board has already demanded for more gas to generate power to avoid outages in winter.
The ongoing heat has led the PDB to burn gas more than its previous calculation to generate power in rainy reason, said the official.
The country experiences an erratic monsoon as rainfall in August was lowest in 41 years causing heat waves, according to the Bangladesh Meteorological Department.
RPGCL officials said PDB had been demanding extra gas when the price of LNG is increasing in the international spot market while the country is facing a prolonged dollar shortage.
Referring to import approval received in August by Petrobangla, the officials said each unit of one cargo LNG or 33.66 lakh MMBtu cost around $11 per unit.
However, Petrobangla in its latest proposals submitted to the cabinet committee on government purchase sought approval to import per MMBtu at around $14.
The country’s gross forex reserves tumbled to $23 billion from $48 billion in August 24.
It will fall further in the next week with payment $1.2 billion to the Asian Clearing union for import payment of July and August.
The growing dependency on imported gas has been criticised by energy experts as it poses challenges for the county’s overall energy security.
The country began importing gas in 2019 but had to suspend importing for about six months in 2022 due to high price and shortage of dollar.
At present, the county produces around 2,700 mmcfd gas while import around 700 mmcfd, according to Petrobangla.
With overall gas production at 3,400 mmcfd, the country is facing a shortage of gas around 1,000 mmcfd.
It has been estimated that the daily demand for gas is more than 4,000mmcfd.
