Bangladesh’s LNG Procurement in Disarray as Millions of Dollars Are Spent Without Planning, Yet Gas Crisis Persists

Staff Correspondent

Dhaka, August 17: The country’s gas sector has been in a terrible crisis for 26 days. The crisis, which began on July 21, shows no signs of abating. Although Accelerate Energy’s floating LNG terminal is fully ready to supply gas, there is a fear that the gas crisis will worsen for at least another week as there will be no LNG cargo until August 23.

The crisis is due to wrong decisions in political lobbying, those concerned allege.

The Energy Department officials alleged that the decision to import six cargoes through the Direct Purchase Method (DPM) bypassing the regulatory process is mainly responsible for this situation. One of the cargoes was supposed to arrive today, but it is not coming.

Officials of the Energy Department said that due to the fear that these cargoes would not arrive on time, a proposal was made to buy cargoes from British Petroleum Singapore for August 17 and 24 from the spot market. This proposal was sent to the Cabinet Committee on Procurement on August 6. But the committee did not approve the proposal and instead ordered the import of the six cargoes purchased under the direct procurement policy earlier. People across the country are now paying the price for that decision.

Tender to purchase 5 cargoes from the spot market on an urgent basis

Forced to deal with the situation, the government has urgently invited tenders to purchase 5 LNG cargoes from the international spot market. An emergency Zoom meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Procurement has been called this evening in this regard.

“People are angry, it’s difficult to identify”

Several officials of the Energy Department said that the lobbyists of the circles are responsible for the current gas crisis. Because of them, it has become difficult to introduce the Energy Department anywhere outside, because the common people are extremely angry about this crisis. The officials commented that although the government is working relentlessly to move the country forward, if strict action is not taken against those involved in the gas crisis, the responsibility will fall on the government and there is a risk that the government’s image will be severely damaged.

Why the gas crisis is not being resolved despite spending millions of dollars is now a question that is being asked by the general public and concerned circles. According to analysts, if accountability is not ensured quickly and action is not taken against those involved, such crises may return again and again in the future.