Government to buy another cargo of LNG to address gas crisis

The government has decided to import one more cargo of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to maintain normal gas supply in the country. A day after the in-principle approval to import eight cargoes of LNG, the proposal to purchase one more cargo has been approved.

The proposal was approved in an online meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Government Procurement on Friday (7 August) afternoon. The meeting was presided over by Finance and Planning Minister Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury.

A press release from the Finance Ministry said that the LNG cargo will be purchased from Singapore-based Aramco Trading Singapore Pte Ltd through a government-to-government (G2G) method.

Approval of eight cargoes the previous day

Earlier on Thursday, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs gave in-principle approval to import eight cargoes of LNG through a direct purchase method without a tender.

Under four separate proposals of the Department of Energy and Mineral Resources, approval was given to purchase a total of eight cargoes of LNG from the UK, Australia, Malaysia and Oman, two each.

With the addition of a new cargo, the initiative to import LNG to normalize the gas supply situation has been further strengthened.

Crisis increases after fire at Maheshkhali terminal

Along with the ongoing war situation in West Asia, the gas crisis in the country has intensified due to a fire and technical malfunction at a floating LNG terminal in Maheshkhali.

Its operations were stopped after a fire broke out at the terminal on July 21. This reduced the supply of about 450 million cubic feet of gas to the national grid daily.

LNG imported by sea is converted into gas through Floating Storage and Regasification Units (FSRUs) and supplied to the national grid. There are two such floating terminals in Maheshkhali.

One of the terminal's power and control systems and data cables were damaged in the fire, and its operations were suspended for about two weeks.

After necessary repairs, the boiler of one unit of the terminal has been started. Gas supply has resumed on a limited scale from the terminal of Accelerate Energy since Thursday morning.