QatarEnergy’s ‘force majeure’ on cargo dispatch blockade triggers fuel furors in BD
A delegation of QatarEnergy, Bangladesh’s largest contracted liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplier, is coming soon to find a possible way of resuming the LNG supply as its cargo halt created fuel furors in the country.
QatarEnergy stopped supplying LNG to Bangladesh immediate after the outbreak of the US-Israel war on Iran in the Middle East and restrictions on the passage of vessels through the strategic Strait of Hormuz.
The Middle-Eastern company announced ‘force majeure’ on March 4 to cease LNG supply to Bangladesh, and since then, it had extended the taboo every month. And under its latest announcement, QatarEnergy was not to send gas cargos until September.
The LNG-marketing team of QatarEnergy is expected to hold discussion with top officials of state-run Petrobangla and its subsidiary Rupantarita Prakritik Gas Company Ltd (RPGCL) on September 9.
“The visit of this team to Bangladesh is a follow-up to the visit of a high-powered Bangladeshi delegation to Qatar a couple of week ago,” a senior official of the Energy and Mineral Resources Division (EMRD) under the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources (MPEMR) told The Financial Express on Sunday.
Qatar had assured Bangladesh of all possible support in ensuring energy security, particularly amid the current challenging circumstances, during a meeting between Foreign Minister Khalilur Rahman and Qatar Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani in Doha, he said.
Describing Bangladesh as a brotherly country, the Qatari prime minister had assured the Bangladeshi delegation, also comprising state minister for the MPEMR Aninda Islam Amit, of extending all possible support to Bangladesh in ensuring energy security.
“QatarEnergy has been showing positive intentions to help Bangladesh in coming out of the energy crisis after the visit of the Bangladeshi delegation,” says Petrobangla Chairman Md Abdul Mannan.
He told the FE that the Qatari company already had expressed intention to supply at least one LNG cargo soon and ensure smooth LNG supply from next year.
Sources have said supply halt of LNG by Qatar has been affecting Bangladesh badly as at least 70 per cent of Bangladesh-bound LNG delivery is currently being affected as a consequence.
According to S&P Global Energy CERA data, Bangladesh received about 60 per cent of its LNG-import requirements from Qatar in 2025.
Apart from QatarEnergy, several long-term and short-term suppliers, including OQ Trading International of Oman and US’s Excelerate, also stopped supplying LNG to Bangladesh as they were to source it from Qatar, market insiders said.
Bangladesh is currently struggling to meet its gas demand amid elevated LNG prices and as contracted long-term LNG suppliers continue to restrict scheduled cargo deliveries, they said.
Due to disruptions to long-and short-term LNG supplies, Bangladesh is being compelled to rely more on volatile spot market to source LNG to mitigate potential shortages after supplies from the Middle East were restricted due to navigation disruptions through the Strait of Hormuz.
State-run Petrobangla is being compelled to buy LNG at over US$ 28 per million British thermal unit (MMBtu) to supply natural gas to industries, power plants, households and other gas-guzzling consumers.
If Qatar would supply LNG, the price would have less than half of spot market rates, even amid the current high price of energy on the international market with the Brent crude price hovering around US$96 per barrel.
The country’s overall natural gas supply was about 2,334 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) with 702mmcfd of regasified LNG, according to official Petrobangla data as of September 5.
Bangladesh’s natural gas demand is around 4,000mmcfd, according to Petrobangla.
State-run Petrobangla has been rationing gas to industries, power plants and other consumers to cope with a supply shortage of natural gas.
Source: The Business Standard
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