Md. Tareq; Dbarta24 — Bangladesh faces renewed energy uncertainty as four Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) cargoes purchased through direct procurement failed to arrive by Monday, disrupting expected industrial and domestic gas supplies across key industrial hubs.
To prevent a severe energy shortfall, state authorities issued an urgent tender for five replacement LNG cargoes.
However, the procurement initiative met limited success: only two tenders received binding offers, while the remaining three drew no bidder interest from international suppliers.
According to sources at Petrobangla and RPGCL, nine LNG cargoes were scheduled for delivery in August following earlier terminal disruptions.
While two contract cargoes have delivered gas and a third is slated for arrival on August 20 alongside a long-term shipment from Qatar, supply chain disruptions have crippled spot imports.
A short-term cargo from Saudi Aramco reached the Bay of Bengal but was declined by the floating terminal operator due to transfer risks.
The delivery failure involves four direct-procurement cargoes, including two managed by Hong Kong-based ZhenYu Shipping Company.
Officials declined to clear one vessel that arrived on Sunday after identifying it on a UK sanctions list.
The remaining suppliers have failed to confirm delivery schedules, with indications they may request extensions into September.
State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Anindyas Islam Amit confirmed that direct-procurement suppliers failed to fulfill necessary documentation and shipping formalities.
He assured that alternative tenders are being processed to stabilize the national gas grid.
The procurement breakdown comes despite favorable pricing secured earlier this month, when Black Cube International and ZhenYu Shipping offered cargoes at $15.50 and $14.95 per MMBtu respectively—well below the prevailing market spot rate of over $20.
In contrast, the latest emergency tenders for late-August and early-September deliveries yielded bids of nearly $22 per MMBtu from British Petroleum.
Infrastructure breakdowns have worsened the supply shortfall. While Summit’s floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) at Maheshkhali has resumed full operation and Excelerate Energy’s facility partially restored operations following a July 21 fire, regasification output is falling due to the lack of incoming vessels.
National gas supply fluctuated sharply over the weekend, dropping to 1,640 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) on Friday before recovering to around 2,280 mmcfd on Monday, with LNG contributing just 660 mmcfd.
Although industrial production partially resumed in Narayanganj, Gazipur, Savar, and Habiganj, manufacturing units in several zones continue to report severe pressure drops.
Energy expert M. Tamim criticized the administrative response, stating that direct procurement is meant for speed and reliability.
He recommended that failure to meet contracted delivery windows should trigger immediate security bond forfeitures and supplier blacklisting, alongside aggressive spot tendering to secure fuel security.