The government is planning to import liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) to help stabilise the domestic market

The government is planning to import liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) through the state-owned Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) to stabilise the domestic market and shield consumers from artificial shortages and price volatility.

BPC has already sought approval to import LPG on a government-to-government (G2G) basis, sending a letter to the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources on January 10. Sources at the Energy Division and BPC said that as the LPG market is now almost entirely dominated by the private sector, the government has little control over retail cylinder prices. Consequently, complaints of supply shortages and abnormal price hikes have persisted for a long time. In this situation, BPC aims to rebalance the market and curb artificial shortages through government-led LPG imports.

In a letter to the Energy and Mineral Resources Division, BPC Chairman Md Amin Ul Ahsan noted that the market is facing an acute shortage of LPG cylinders alongside unusual price increases. He said many private operators are unable to import LPG regularly due to various constraints, a situation that is being exploited in some areas to create artificial shortages.

The letter added that government-imported LPG could be quickly supplied to the market through private operators, giving the authorities an effective mechanism to help stabilise prices. As BPC lacks its own infrastructure, it has proposed using the terminals and unloading facilities of private operators to carry out the initiative.

Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Adviser Muhammad Fauzul Kabir Khan said the government is already examining the feasibility of importing LPG on a G2G basis from different countries. He added that, for now, the government would be responsible only for importing LPG, while storage and bottling would remain with the private sector.