Staff Reporter:
Bangladesh is set to purchase two cargoes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the open or spot market. UK-based company TotalEnergies Gas and Power has been awarded the contract to supply the LNG.
The proposal was approved at a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Government Purchase held at the Secretariat on Wednesday (25 March), chaired by Finance and Planning Minister Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury.
The Ministry of Finance disclosed the decision in a statement following the meeting. In line with the proposal from the Energy and Mineral Resources Division, the LNG will be procured from the international spot market through an open tender process in accordance with the Public Procurement Rules 2008.
Each cargo contains 3.36 million MMBtu (million British thermal units) of LNG. According to the ministry, the price per MMBtu from TotalEnergies Gas and Power is $19.77. The total cost for the two cargoes amounts to Tk16.66 billion. One cargo is scheduled to arrive between 24 and 25 April, and the other between 27 and 28 April this year.
An earlier proposal to import one cargo from the same supplier was approved on 11 March at a higher price of $21.58 per MMBtu, indicating a slight decrease in the latest rate. On 9 December last year, LNG from TotalEnergies was procured at $10.37 per MMBtu.
The committee also approved a proposal to procure 10 million litres of refined palm olein for the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) to sell at subsidised rates among low-income families, at a cost of Tk1.63 billion. The contract has been awarded to Shabnam Vegetable Oil Industries Limited.
Another proposal approved the direct procurement of vaccines from UNICEF for the Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI) in the 2025–26 fiscal year, costing Tk6.04 billion. The meeting also cleared the purchase of 30,000 tonnes of urea fertiliser from Karnaphuli Fertiliser Company (KAFCO) at a cost of Tk1.75 billion.
Under a project titled “Construction of 34 buffer warehouses across the country for fertiliser storage and distribution (1st revised)”, a proposal to build a 10,000-tonne capacity warehouse in Chuadanga was approved at a cost of Tk431.5 million. The contract has been awarded to S S Rahman International.
Additionally, under the project “Modernisation and Capacity Enhancement of the Bangladesh Rural Electrification Board’s power distribution system”, a proposal to procure SPC poles (electric poles) was approved at a cost of Tk2.30 billion. The contract has been jointly awarded to Dada Engineering, Contech Construction, TSCO Power, and Pasha Poles Limited.
