DHAKA, April 16 (Reuters) - Bangladesh expects to import 11 cargoes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in May to meet demand during the peak summer season, including two spot cargoes that had recently been awarded, a Petrobangla official said on Thursday.
"Due to supply disruptions and force majeure declared by major suppliers, only three cargoes will come from long-term contracts, while eight will have to be sourced from the spot market, which remains highly volatile," the official said.
"This has significantly increased our costs, with spot LNG prices nearly doubling import expenses, and as a result the government has been forced to increase subsidies by about 45 billion taka ($366.75 million) for March and April to manage the pressure."
Since the beginning of the U.S.-Israel war with Iran, which curbed traffic through the Strait of Hormuz and disrupted supply from exporters like Qatar, Asian LNG prices surged to three-year highs before paring some gains. They were last up 63% since end-February at $17 per million British thermal units (mmBtu).
Bangladesh has bought 11 spot cargoes since the war started on February 28.
It most recently awarded a tender for two spot cargoes to TotalEnergies and Aramco Trading Singapore for $19.825/mmBtu and $19.194/mmBtu, respectively, for delivery on May 2-3 and 8-9, said a market source and the Petrobangla official.
Last year, Bangladesh relied on Qatar for more than half of its annual LNG imports. Dhaka has already sought $2 billion in external financing to secure fuel and LNG imports.
($1 = 122.7000 taka)
(Reporting by Ruma Paul in Dhaka and Emily Chow in Singapore; Editing by Kim Coghill)
