DHAKA - Bangladesh is cancelling two more tenders to import liquefied natural gas (LNG) in December, citing offers to supply the shipments were too high, two energy officials with the direct knowledge of the matter said on Tuesday.

Rupantarita Prakritik Gas Company sought two LNG cargoes of 138,000 cubic metres each for delivery next month through separate tenders, but offers from sole supplier Vitol for both cargoes were sharply higher than the prices that Bangladesh pays under long-term contracts. 

State-owned Rupantarita Prakritik Gas Company, which is in charge of Bangladesh's LNG imports, had earlier cancelled a tender for November delivery, again citing high prices.

"We had to cancel both tenders as offers from the only supplier were too high," one of the official of Rupantarita Prakritik Gas Company told Reuters.

Asian spot prices for LNG fell last week on lower Chinese demand and expectations of more cargoes from the United States, although loading delays from a Malaysian export plant supported prices, that jumped more than 40% so far this month on winter demand.

The average LNG price for December delivery into Northeast Asia LNG-AS was estimated at about $6.70 per million British thermal units (mmBtu), down 80 cents from the previous week.

"Next week, we will issue another tender for December delivery. Hopefully, we will get competitive rates for the cargo given prices dropped last week," another official with the Rupantarita Prakritik Gas Company said.

Rupantarita bought Bangladesh's first ever spot LNG cargo from Vitol at $3.8321 per mmBtu for delivery over late September to early October. But its plan to double LNG imports from the spot market from December is facing a setback.

Bangladesh currently has two floating storage and regasification units with a total regasification capacity of 1 billion cubic feet per day, equal to about 7.5 million tonnes a year.

(Reporting by Ruma Paul; Editing by Rashmi Aich) ((Ruma.Paul@thomsonreuters.com; +880 2 58315303; Reuters Messaging: ruma.paul.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))