Letters of credit (LCs) opened for importing petroleum and petroleum products rose around 63 percent year-on-year to US$3.7 billion in the first quarter of the current fiscal year (FY27), as the Middle East conflict pushed up global oil and gas prices.
According to Bangladesh Bank data, LCs opened for petroleum and petroleum product imports amounted to $2.28 billion in July-September of the previous fiscal year.
LCs opened for crude oil imports tripled to around $630 million in the first quarter of FY27 from more than $200 million a year earlier.
Meanwhile, the value of LCs opened for other petroleum products, including gas, rose to $2.4 billion from $1.12 billion during the same period.
LC settlements for petroleum and petroleum product imports also increased 26 percent year-on-year to $2.93 billion in July-September.
Global average Brent crude prices rose more than 40 percent year-on-year to $97 a barrel in July-September, compared with $69 a barrel a year earlier, according to the World Bank's commodity price data.
The average price of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in Japan also increased to $14.45 per million British thermal units (MMBtu) during the quarter from $11.73 a year earlier.
Bangladesh meets more than one-third of its natural gas demand through imports. Following QatarEnergy's declaration of force majeure, Bangladesh has increasingly relied on the spot market to secure LNG supplies.
The spot-market price of LNG has reached around $30 per MMBtu, nearly three times the level typically paid before the Middle East conflict, putting additional pressure on the country's energy budget.
Bangladesh requires more than 6.8 million tonnes of petroleum annually, with diesel accounting for more than two-thirds of total demand.