The International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC) has signed a US$2.1bn financing plan with Bangladesh to finance the country's oil and gas imports. Under the agreement, the Saudi-based ITFC will finance the state-owned Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation to import oil and Petrobangla to import LNG. US$500m will be used to import gas, while the rest will be for oil.
Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Bangladesh has struggled to pay for imported oil and gas notably because of dwindling local reserves. This brought the country resort to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a US$4.7bn bailout signed in 2023.
Bangladesh’s energy independence rate stood at 61% in 2021, before the current crisis. That same year, the country imported 97% of its oil needs. Bangladesh has very low oil reserves (4 Mt in 2022) but has more significant natural gas reserves (243 bcm in 2022). However, gas reserves are decreasing at a steady rate every year.
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