Category: Energy and Power

A prolonged shortage of piped gas in parts of Dhaka has triggered a sharp rise in demand for electric cooking appliances as households seek alternatives to unreliable gas supplies.

The crisis began on July 22 after disruptions involving fl oating storage and regasifi cation units (FSRUs) cut liquefi ed natural gas supplies to the national grid by around 450 million cubic feet per day (MMCFD), or nearly 17 percent.

Although supplies have improved in some areas, daytime gas pressure remains inadequate in many households.

The disruption has boosted sales of infrared and rice cookers in particular.

Industry players estimate Bangladesh’s annual electric cooker market at less than Tk200 crore.

RFL Chief Marketing Offi cer Murshid Muneem said demand for infrared cookers had more than doubled year-on-year, while rice cooker sales had increased by around 200-300 percent.

The European Commission and the European Investment Bank (EIB) have approved a pound 2.0 billion investment fund to support the decarbonization of Greece’s islands through electricity interconnections, renewable energy, energy storage and electric mobility.

The Islands Decarbonization Fund, developed jointly by the Greek government, the European Commission and the EIB, will fi nance projects aimed at reducing the islands’ reliance on costly diesel-fi red power generation while improving energy security and accelerating the country’s green transition.

About pound 1.1 billion of the fund will be allocated to electricity interconnections and related infrastructure in the Dodecanese, Cyclades and northeastern Aegean islands.

Fresh LP Gas, a concern of Meghna Group of Industries (MGI), has added a 2,000-metrictonne LPG carrier to its fl eet to strengthen transportation capacity and ensure reliable supplies across Bangladesh.

The new vessel, MT Mercantile-65, brings the company’s dedicated LPG carrier fl eet to three, with a combined capacity of 6,000 metric tonnes.

The vessels will transport imported LPG from the Kutubdia and Chattogram anchorages to Fresh LP Gas’s Meghnaghat and Mongla plants, supporting a more reliable supply network.

MGI Director Tanveer Mostafa said the company would continue investing in transportation and logistics to meet rising LPG demand.

Fresh LP Gas CMO Abu Sayed Raza said the expanded fl eet would help maintain yearround supply and extend LPG access to underserved areas.

Bangladesh has approved the direct purchase of 18 additional LNG cargoes f r o m TotalEnergies to meet urgent gas demand amid shrinking supplies and disruptions caused by the confl ict in West Asia.

The Economic Affairs Cabinet Committee approved the purchase of two cargoes a month from October through June, without a tender.

It also gave in-principle approval for additional purchases from TotalEnergies if required, subject to mutual agreement.

The government had earlier approved 22 LNG cargoes through direct purchases in August as gas shortages intensifi ed.

The government also approved proposals to purchase diesel, jet fuel and furnace oil from international suppliers including Trafi gura, Vitol Asia and Unipec for SeptemberDecember, with the combined proposed value running into tens of billions of taka.

FUSA has begun the phased rollout of its Solar Core Fusion Extraction program, aiming to move from national participation to industrial access and eventually smaller commercial and domestic applications.

The company said the patent rights supporting the program have received an independent thirdparty valuation prepared under International Valuation Standards, with a published lower-end fi gure of US$3.4 trillion.

According to FUSA, the program is based on its ‘Star Law’, or Entanglement Relativity, and seeks to develop a method for directly accessing fusion energy from the Solar Core.

FUSA said its experimental program included four IBM Kingston-Marrakesh quantum-hardware campaigns, each involving 330,000 circuit executions.

The company reported positive ‘informationized energy transmission’ and successful work extraction across all tests, with the fi nal campaign recording a transmitted value exceeding 5 TW.

The program uses a receiving terminal called the ‘Dave’ transducer to perform conditional quantum work extraction.

FUSA plans to begin deployment with governments and energy-intensive industries, subject to applicable legislation and electrical homologation.

Additional Secretary Md Abdul Mannan has been appointed as the full-fl edged chairman of Petrobangla, ending a vacancy of around three and a half months.

Mannan had been serving as the additional secretary while also holding the Petrobangla chairman’s post in an additional capacity.

The chairman’s position had remained vacant for nearly three and a half months, drawing criticism over the delay in appointing a full-time chairman.

With the latest appointment, Petrobangla now has a permanent head.

Md Abdul Mannan will oversee the state-owned oil, gas and mineral resources corporation at a time when Bangladesh’s energy sector is facing signifi cant challenges.

Singapore-based energy traders Trafi gura Pte Ltd and Vitol Asia Pte Ltd have submitted offers to supply fuel oil to Bangladesh b e t w e e n September and December under an international competitive tender.

The Cabinet Committee on Government Purchase, at a meeting chaired by Finance Minister Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury on 9 September, directed offi cials to negotiate with the two companies on premiums and reference prices and place the revised offers before the committee at its next meeting.

According to the proposals placed before the committee, Trafi gura has offered to supply 220,000250,000 tonnes of diesel and 50,000 tonnes of Jet A-1 fuel at a proposed total cost of Tk4,803 crore.

Vitol Asia, meanwhile, has offered to supply 200,000230,000 tonnes of diesel and 40,000 tonnes of Jet A-1 at a proposed cost of Tk4,326 crore.

US companies are highly interested in building and operating additional fl oating storage and regasifi cation units (FSRUs) in Bangladesh, US Ambassador Brent T.

Christensen said during a meeting with Commerce Minister Khandakar Abdul Muktadir in Dhaka on September 7.

Christensen stressed the need for a transparent and competitive process for major infrastructure projects, saying it would boost foreign investors’ confi dence and encourage greater US participation in Bangladesh’s energy sector.

Muktadir welcomed US investment, saying American companies would receive the highest priority if they could demonstrate the capacity to deliver an FSRU within the shortest possible timeframe.

The two sides also discussed expanding bilateral trade, improving the business environment and strengthening energy cooperation.

Meanwhile, Summit LNG Terminal II has asked Petrobangla to reconsider the cancellation of its FSRU project, claiming that retaining its BOOT-based project could save Bangladesh around $1.1 billion.

Prime Minister Tarique Rahman has said the government may consider extracting high-quality coal from Phulbari in Dinajpur to help meet the country’s energy needs and save foreign currency, but any decision would priorities the resettlement and livelihoods of affected communities.

Responding to a supplementary question from lawmaker Sabikun Nahar in Parliament recently, the prime minister said Phulbari coal is among the best-quality coal in the world and could benefi t the country if it helps address the energy crisis.

He acknowledged that open-pit mining could affect agricultural land and settlements and said the government would fi rst assess how affected people could be properly resettled without disrupting their livelihoods.

Local communities should also benefi t if the project is eventually implemented, he added.

Tarique Rahman said environmental concerns would receive due importance before any decision is taken.

Thailand could signifi cantly reduce its dependence on imported liquefi ed natural gas (LNG) by reforming policies that have slowed rooftop solar development, according to a report by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA).

Declining domestic gas production has increased Thailand’s reliance on imported LNG, exposing the economy to volatile global prices.

The government now aims to generate 60% of electricity from clean energy by 2050, double its previous target.

Rooftop solar accounted for about 3.6 GW of Thailand’s solar capacity in early 2026, but high installation costs, low electricity buyback rates, restrictive quotas and policy uncertainty have limited growth.

Rooftop systems cost around $936 per kW, nearly 50% higher than in some regional markets.

IEEFA said the current buyback rate of THB 2.20 ($0.07) per kWh is signifi cantly below the average retail electricity tariff of about THB 3.88/kWh.

The residential solar payback period is therefore around six to seven years.

The report recommends shifting from net billing to net metering, raising solar buyback rates, removing restrictive quotas, streamlining tax incentives and accelerating rooftop solar combined with battery storage.