Bangladesh is importing liquefied natural gas (LNG) worth Tk 5.79 billion from the United States of America.

The cabinet committee on government purchase (CCGP) on Thursday approved a proposal for procuring one cargo of LNG (3.36 million MMBtu) to meet the growing demand. The CCGP approved the proposal of Petrobangla with finance minister AHM Mustafa Kamal in the chair.

Sayeed Mahbub Khan, additional secretary of cabinet division, made the disclosure following the meeting on Thursday. The LNG would be imported from M/S Excelerate Energy LP of United States, he said.

Earlier, the government approved procuring one cargo LNG from Switzerland’s Total Engineering Gas and Power Limited at Tk 6.18 billion this month and another cargo from Japan’s JERA Company at Tk 6.94 billion the previous month.

Before this year, Petrobangla last imported LNG from spot market in last year’s May. The rate of per MMBtu was $26.04 at that time which has now decreased by $10.

The government started exporting LNG from 25 April 2018 due to gas crisis. The government also took a plan to import LNG from spot market in 2019 and signed deals with four organisations of Japan, Singapore, United Kingdom and Dubai.

Russia also wants to export LNG to Bangladesh and wants to set up LNG terminal jointly. Russia showed the interest during the fourth session of the Russia-Bangladesh Intergovernmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific and Technical Cooperation held on 13-15 March.

The proposal, however, saw no headway.