Bangladesh pays $5m to QatarEnergy LNG, outstanding import bill stands at $32m
Rest of the dues to be paid tomorrow through ITFC
Highlights:
- LNG import dues to the Qatari energy giant now stands at $32m
- Overall LNG dues fall from $317.48m to $67.62m in 8 months
- Bangladesh has $500m loan agreement with ITFC to meet energy import bills
Bangladesh has paid $5 million outstanding LNG import bills to Qatar's state-owned QatarEnergy LNG today (22 April) from the total due of $37 million.
After paying the $5 million today through Agrani Bank, the outstanding LNG import bill to the Qatari energy giant now stands at $32 million.
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AKM Mizanur Rahman, director (Finance) of Petrobangla, confirmed the payment to The Business Standard.
He said, "We paid $5 million to QatarEnergy LNG today out of $37 million of outstanding LNG import bills. We will pay the remaining $32 million tomorrow."
According to Petrobangla, the $32 million would be paid by Jeddah based International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC).
Bangladesh has a loan agreement of $500 million dollars with ITFC to meet energy import bills for this calendar year.
AKM Mizanur Rahman yesterday said Bangladesh would pay the total $37 million dues to QatarEnergy LNG by 23 April.
"Our payment frequncy improved significatly over the past eight months. We are committed to clear all LNG import bills within April."
He also said, "Finance ministry's consistent release of dollars for clearing due bills made this easy as overall long-term LNG dues fell from $317.48 millions to $67.62 millions."
As of 21 April, due bills of LNG import stood at $67.62 million which was $317.48 million on 5 August 2024.
Of the $67.62 million due, the companies — QatarEnergy LNG, formerly known as Qatargas, and OQ Trading Ltd, previously known as Oman Trading International Ltd — are owed $37 million and $30.62 million, respectively.
The latest Petrobangla data shows the interim governemnt so far paid $1.53 billion for long term LNG import against the actual import cost of $1.59 billion.
The middle eastern country's energy giant QatarEnergy LNG started exporting LNG to Bangladesh in 2018.
Under a 15-year-long contract, QatarEnergy LNG will export minimum 1.8 to 2.5 mtpa LNG at a cost of $10.114 per mmbtu with 40 cargoes each capacity of 32 lakh MMbtu.
