Bangladesh to Add 1,600 mmcfd of LNG Regasification Capacity by 2030
State Minister Aninda Islam Amit's announcement commits Dhaka to more than doubling LNG throughput even as existing shortfalls force power rationing across the country.
Bangladesh plans to add 1,600 million cubic feet per day of new LNG regasification capacity by 2030, State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Aninda Islam Amit said on Friday (2026-09-11). That target would more than double the roughly 711 mmcfd of regasified LNG currently flowing into a national grid already running short.5,3
The supply deficit is not hypothetical. Gas shortages and an LNG terminal outage earlier in 2026 forced the government to impose earlier closing times for shops and malls, with load-shedding spreading into the industrial zones that anchor the country's economy.2 The textile sector, which drives export earnings, has reported sustained production losses as energy pressure built over four years, energytracker.asia reported on 4 May 2026 (2026-05-04).1
Amit put current annual LNG requirements at around 7 million tonnes. He projected an increase of 3 to 4 million tonnes per annum through 2026-30, with demand potentially reaching 17 to 18 million tonnes per annum during 2031-40.5 At those upper-band volumes, Bangladesh would rank among the region's larger importers, buying cargoes against the JKM Asian LNG benchmark, which stood at $24.88 per MMBtu on 2026-09-13.
Bangladesh's total natural gas supply currently hovers around 2,336 mmcfd, with regasified LNG accounting for roughly 711 mmcfd — about 30 percent of the total.3 Adding 1,600 mmcfd of new regasification capacity without a matching supply book would expose Dhaka to heavy JKM spot price risk. Filling that incremental capacity for a full year at current benchmark prices would run to several billion dollars, a significant burden for a government that has already struggled to settle LNG invoices during periods of foreign exchange pressure.
The government has been working to diversify procurement in parallel. Authorities invited applications to widen Bangladesh's pool of spot LNG suppliers, seeking more bidders to drive down costs, The Financial Express reported; only a handful of the 27 currently listed suppliers regularly submit bids for spot tenders.3 A thin bidder pool leaves price-setting power with sellers during periods of tight supply — the same conditions Bangladesh encountered when its terminal outage struck in 2026.2
But building terminal capacity ahead of firm supply agreements shifts rather than solves the procurement problem. Regasification infrastructure is only as useful as the LNG flowing through it. Bangladesh will need long-term offtake contracts, or a meaningfully more competitive spot market, to justify the 2030 construction timeline on commercial grounds. Amit's statement on Friday (2026-09-11) did not address when or how those supply arrangements would be secured.5
Financing is a separate uncertainty. Bangladesh's foreign exchange reserves have at times constrained its ability to clear LNG invoices promptly, and previous infrastructure expansions have faced funding delays. The 2030 capacity target requires capital commitments that go well beyond a ministerial announcement.
Southeast Asia provides a competitive backdrop. Wood Mackenzie projects 16 percent annual LNG demand growth in the region, driven largely by data centre expansion and combined-cycle gas turbines, with Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand expected to capture most of that incremental volume, Wood Mackenzie said.4 Bangladesh, buying to cover an existing supply deficit rather than new load growth, will compete for the same JKM-priced spot cargoes against buyers with deeper balance sheets and signed offtake agreements already in place.
What LNG traders and portfolio managers will track is whether Dhaka follows the capacity announcement with binding procurement — term contracts, fixed-price frameworks, or multi-cargo offtake arrangements with major exporters. Without those, 1,600 mmcfd of new regasification capacity is an infrastructure intention. At $24.88 per MMBtu on 2026-09-13, JKM gives a rough sense of what it will cost to fill.5