Lng spot purchase: Petrobangla adds 8 new suppliers

Petrobangla yesterday added eight more companies to its existing roster of 15 for purchase of liquefied natural gas.

The companies are Japan's LNG Japan Corporation and Inpex Corporation; Korea's POSCO International Corporation; Socar Trading UK; Qatar Energy Trading; Sinagpore's Pavillion Energy Trading & Supply, PetroChina International and PTT International.

The approval came in yesterday's purchase committee meeting chaired by Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal, where a total of 14 proposals worth about Tk 14,620 crore got the nod.

Bangladesh has a long-term contract with Kuwait and Qatar for supplying LNG, which it supplants with purchases from the spot market.

However, purchase from the spot market has been on pause since July due to a steep rise in prices.

Spot purchase is not resuming anytime soon, Nasrul Hamid, the state minister for power, energy and mineral resources, told The Daily Star yesterday.

"The companies applied to us, so we added them to our roster. When we resume spot purchase, we can buy from these eight companies too," he added.