State minister for power, energy and mineral resources Nasrul Hamid requested Qatar on Wednesday to consider lowering the price of LNG imported by Bangladesh.
He suggested following Henry Hub benchmark while fixing the LNG (liquefied natural gas) import price from Qatargas.
The request for lower LNG price was made during a meeting with Qatar state minister for energy affairs Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi.
An eight-member delegation of the Gulf country met Mr Nasrul at his secretariat office.
Currently, state-run Petrobangla has been importing lean LNG from Qatargas at $8.5 per mmBtu (million British thermal unit).
But people familiar with the market said LNG cargoes have been trading below $4.0 per mmBtu in the spot market for the past several months.
However, Mr Kaabi assured his Bangladeshi counterpart of reconsidering price at the time of extending the existing memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the two countries.
While seeking an extension of the MoU, he was also keen to invest in building a land-based LNG import terminal at Payra port.
Separately, a joint venture of Qatar Petroleum LNG Services and US-based ExxonMobil is among 11 other global bidders interested in building a land-based LNG import terminal at Matarbari.
It will be a 1,000-million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) capacity terminal.
Following the meeting, Mr Hamid briefed the media on the issues discussed there. Qatar's main focus is investment in the country's LNG-based power sector, he said.
Replying to a query, the junior minister said the proposed Qatari investment will be within the government's power-sector Master Plan-2030.
