Bangladesh has revealed plans to buy liquefied natural gas from Malaysian energy giant Petronas as the country continues to boost its LNG imports to meet the rising domestic demand.
Bangladesh and Malaysia signed a memorandum of understanding to cooperate in the supply of LNG during a virtual meeting on Tuesday, according to a statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bangladesh.
Under the memorandum, a unit of Petronas and Petrobangla would work on an LNG sales and purchase contract.
The duo should finalize the deal soon, the ministry said, but it did not provide any additional information.
Bangladesh imports LNG via two Excelerate Energy’s FSRUs. The country has sights on more import facilities to cater to a rising demand, mainly in the power generation sector.
The country imported 4.18 million tonnes of LNG in 2020, a rise of 2.5 percent year-on-year, according to GIIGNL data.
Most of these volumes came from Qatar as part of a long-term contract Petrobangla has with Qatar Petroleum’s unit Qatargas.
QP has also earlier this year signed a deal with trader Vitol to supply 1.25 million tons per annum of LNG to Vitol’s final customers in Bangladesh.
