The country's second liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal is expected to arrive at Moheshkhali Island in the Bay Bengal next week to initiate supply of re-gasified LNG (RLNG) to end users.
The FSRU (floating, storage, re-gasification unit) has already started journey to reach Bangladesh, carrying 138,000 cubic metres of lean LNG from RasGas of Qatar, said a senior Petrobangla official.
The Rupantarita Praktritik Gas Company Ltd (RPGCL) has already informed the terminal contractor - the Summit Group - about its readiness to carry out test as soon as the FSRU arrives in the country.
The RPGCL, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Petrobangla, is responsible to look after LNG trading.
The Gas Transmission Company Ltd (GTCL) also confirmed completion of tie-in work at zero point of Moheshkhali and its readiness for RLNG evacuation.
The Summit Group has also informed its readiness to the state-run Petrobangla and the RPGCL for commissioning of the FSRU on April 20.
However, necessary pipeline to evacuate full capacity of RLNG from the Summit's FSRU is not yet completed.
The Summit's LNG import terminal will be located near the currently operational maiden FSRU, owned by the US's Excelerate Energy at Moheshkhali having the same 3.75 million tonnes per year (Mtpa) capacity.
The Excelerate Energy's FSRU - Excellence - is currently re-gasifying around 500 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) of LNG.
Bangladesh began commercial operation of its maiden FSRU on August 18, 2018 after importing the first LNG - with the Excelerate's commissioning cargo on April 24, 2018.
The Excellence got connected to the subsea pipeline network on August 05, and commenced injecting the first RLNG to pipeline network on August 12.
Technical issues and rough seas during the June-August south-western monsoon kept the vessel stranded off the south coast of Chattogram for months.
The country is currently importing lean LNG from RasGas of Qatar and Oman Trading International of Oman under term deals.
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