The government has short-listed seven local and international firms including a couple of joint ventures to build a 7.5-million tonne per year (Mtpa) capacity FSRU-based LNG re-gasification terminal at offshore of Payra in Patuakhali.
Of the short-listed firms, two are from South Korea, one each from the USA, Japan, Singapore, Indonesia and Bangladesh, said a senior official of state-run Rupantarita Prakritik Gas Company Ltd (RPGCL).
The firms are: Excelerate Energy Bangladesh Ltd of the USA, Mitsui OSK Lines of Japan Ltd, PT Pertamina of Indonesia, BP Singapore Pte Ltd of Singapore, Samsung C&T Corporation of South Korea and the joint venture of Posco Daewoo Corporation and Kogas and consortium of Summit Corporation Ltd, Summit Oil Shipping Co Ltd and Hoegh LNG Ltd.
The RPGCL will issue request for proposal to them soon to select a final contractor to execute the project.
The selected contractor will build the LNG (liquefied natural gas) import terminal on a build, own, operate, and transfer (BOOT) basis for 25 years.
The FSRU should have the LNG storage capacity of 260,000 cubic metre and re-gasification capacity of 1000 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd).
The terminal company shall also construct necessary marine facilities including subsea gas pipeline and arrange dedicated port service.
Bangladesh is expecting to complete construction of the terminal by June 2019.
This would be the Bangladesh's largest but the fourth FSRU (floating, storage and re-gasification unit)-based LNG import terminal although previous three are in construction phase.
Bangladesh is set to start importing LNG in the early 2018 and is making concerted efforts to move forward with relevant infrastructures.
The country's first LNG import terminal, a 3.75 Mtpa FSRU being developed by US-based Excelerate Energy, is expected to be commissioned in April 2018 and its second, also with a capacity of 3.75Mtpa, being developed by Summit Group, is expected to be commissioned by October 2018.
Both the FSRUs will be located on Moheshkhali Island in the Bay of Bengal, and ownership of the vessels will be transferred to state-owned oil and gas company Petrobangla after 15 years of operations.
The third FSRU having the similar capacity of a 3.75 Mtpa will be built by Indian Reliance at Kutubdia Island.
Qatar's RasGas and Petrobangla signed the much-expected final sales and purchase agreement (SPA) on September 25 to import 2.5 Mtpa of lean LNG for 15 years.
Bangladesh is eyeing to ink more SPAs soon as the South Asian country is in negotiations with four other potential LNG suppliers with whom it has inked MoU to import LNG.
Gunvor Singapore Pte Ltd was the latest to sign MoU with Petrobangla on September 19 totalling signing of such deals to five including that of Qatar and three in September last.
It inked MoU with Switzerland-based AOT Energy on June 13, Oman in early September and Indonesia on September 15.
Separately, Bangladesh is seeking to import spot LNG from suppliers taking advantage of a downtrend in LNG pricing in the global market.
The country is currently grappling with an acute natural gas shortage, with output of around 2,700 mmcfd against demand for over 3,300 mmcfd, according to Petrobangla.
Bangladesh started facing natural gas crisis from 2009 with the rapid industrialisation, forcing Petrobangla to ration natural gas supplies to gas-guzzling industries, power plants, CNG (compressed natural gas) filling stations and households.
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