Petrobangla would carry out multiple surveys, including metocean, offshore geotechnical and bathymetry, by a global firm on the proposed site of a land-based LNG import terminal at Matarbari.
The firm would be appointed soon to conduct surveys to successfully implement the country's first land-based LNG terminal, said a senior official of the state entity.
The Petrobangla has decided to carry out the surveys for the terminal within the shortest possible time, he added.
For the facility, a project developer to be selected through a competitive bidding would use the surveyed data while building the terminal before June 2023.
The US-based Excelerate Energy, the owner of the lone operational offshore LNG terminal at Moheshkhali in the Bay of Bengal, did the surveys of its own before building the facility.
The official said the government would build a 15-kilometre channel at Matarbari to build a proposed deep-sea port there to ensure loading and unloading of goods efficiently.
The main navigational channel would be 350 metres wide and 18 metres deep.
Matarbari would be an energy hub soon where a number of LNG import terminals, coal import terminals and power plants would be established.
A number of jetties would also be built through which bulk quantities of coal and LNG would be unloaded.
Work on the construction of several such structures has already started, said an official of power, energy and mineral resources ministry.
The government has decided to build a 7.5-million tonne per year (Mtpa) land-based LNG regasification terminal at Matarbari.
For this, Petrobangla's wholly owned subsidiary Rupantorito Prakritik Gas Company Ltd (RPGCL) is currently receiving expression of interests (EoIs) from interested developers.
The deadline for EoI submissions is March 20.
The proposed terminal would be built by a selected sponsor on a build, own, operate and transfer (BOOT) basis at Matarbari in Cox's Bazar district.
The RPGCL floated a tender for building a land-based LNG terminal after scrapping some planned FSRUs (floating, storage, regasification units).
The FSRUs included India's Reliance Power's and another by a consortium comprising Hongkong Shanghai Manjala Power and Malaysia's Petroliam Nasional Bhd.
The RPGCL has planned to build the proposed land-based terminal on a priority basis as land has already been demarcated for it.
The chosen firm must be liable for design, engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning of the terminal for receiving, unloading, storage, regasification, marine facilities, gas pipelines, infrastructure and interconnection facilities.
It would own, operate and maintain the facility for 20 years. Bangladesh currently has a maiden operational 3.75-Mtpa FSRU owned by Excelerate.
The country's second FSRU owned by local Summit Group is expected to come on line by the middle of this year.
The commercial supply of regasified LNG to consumers started from August 18, 2018, after resolving technical issues and facing rough sea during the June-August southwestern monsoon.
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