The government has short listed 17 companies for buying Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) to meet the growing demand of energy in the country. “The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved a draft of Master Sale and Purchase Agreement (MSPA) with the 17 companies in connection to the purchase,” Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal told journalists at the Secretariat in the capital on Wednesday afternoon, reports BSS.
The Finance Minister said the government has already taken initiative to procure LNG from the spot market apart from going on with long-term agreements with various companies. He said out of 43 companies which submitted their Expression of Interest (EOI) as per the “Speedy Supply of Power and Energy (Special Provision) Act, 2010,” the cabinet committee has selected the 17 companies out of the shortlisted 29 companies adding that the purchase will be made from the spot market. The government started importing LNG in August last year in the face of falling domestic production. Since then, Kamal said the government has spent Tk 14,000 crore to subsidize the import adding that the price of imported gas was much higher than the price which was produced locally. Gas production cost stands at Tk 14 for per cubic metre, after the imported LNG is mixed with the locally produced gas. At the moment, the government sells per cubic metre at Tk 7.17.
