Dhaka explores energy cooperation with Nigeria amid fuel crisis
Bangladesh initiated talks with Nigeria regarding energy cooperation on Thursday evening, as the country grapples with an acute petroleum crisis triggered by the ongoing 40-day conflict in the Middle East, according to sources in Dhaka and Abuja.
Senior officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources, Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC), and the Bangladesh mission in Nigeria convened via Zoom to explore the potential import of Nigerian petroleum products.
Key attendees included Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation Chairman Md Rezanur Rahman, Additional Secretary; ATM Abdur Rauf Mondal, Director General of the Africa Wing, Ministry of Foreign Affairs; and Bangladesh High Commissioner to Nigeria, Miah Md Mainul Kabir.
Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel
Nigeria was represented by Tijjani R Ali, Executive Director for Planning and Commercial Affairs; Olujimisayo Abe, Executive Director for Gas, Distillate and Other Products; Uchechukwu I Onuogu, Company Secretary; and Ugbonne O Nnachi-Ibian, Executive Director for Finance at NNPC Limited, among others.
NNPC Limited is a global energy company operating across the energy value chain.
Sources indicated that both parties discussed prospects for importing petroleum products from Nigeria, with follow-up meetings planned at a mutually agreed time.
Given the escalating energy crisis and the need to diversify supply sources, Bangladesh has formally requested several African countries to consider exporting petroleum products, according to the sources.
The current global energy crisis has been exacerbated by the Middle East conflict, following United States and Israeli strikes on Iran on 28 February 2026, sources added.
Bangladesh maintains diplomatic missions in several African countries, including Algeria, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Libya, Mauritius, Morocco, Nigeria, and South Africa.
Early last month, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs instructed Bangladesh missions in African countries to initiate discussions regarding potential petroleum imports.
In March, Bangladesh High Commissioner to Nigeria, Miah Md Mainul Kabir, met Nigeria's Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Gas), Ekperikpe Ekpo, in Abuja to formally request the export of petroleum products to Bangladesh.
Further Zoom meetings between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, BPC and Bangladesh missions in Africa with relevant stakeholders are scheduled for later this month to advance discussions on petroleum imports.
