Gas-rich Brunei is interested to supply liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Bangladesh amid the country's mounting natural gas demand.
Brunei's High Commissioner to Bangladesh Haji Haris Othman has expressed the interest during a courtesy call on state minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid in the secretariat on Sunday.
Brunei currently has a memorandum of understanding to supply LNG to Bangladesh, said an energy ministry official. A final deal is yet to be inked, however.
Responding to Mr. Haris's proposal, Mr. Hamid said Bangladesh will require a huge quantity of natural gas for its consistent economic growth.
At present, Bangladesh is importing LNG from Qatar's RasGas and Oman's Oman Trading International and re-gasifying in two floating LNG terminal at Moheshkhali island in the Bay of Bengal.
The commercial operation of the country's first LNG terminal - US's Excelerate Energy's floating, storage and re-gasification unit - started on August 18 last year after importing the first consignment of LNG with the FSRU on April 24, 2018.
State-run Petrobangla has so far imported five dozens of LNG cargoes to feed the gas-guzzling consumers in the country.
Apart from Qatar's RasGas and Oman's OTI, Petrobangla also has a letter of intent agreement with Indonesia's Petramina to import LNG.
Bangladesh has also shortlisted some 17 global suppliers to purchase LNG from spot market. Separately, Bangladesh has moved to build a land-based LNG import terminal.
A dozen of potential builders have already submitted expression of interests for the land-based LNG terminal.
Sources said, state-run Brunei LNG Sdn Bhd was the first LNG plant in the Western Pacific.
The Brunei government has 50 per cent stake in the firm, while Mitsubishi Corporation and Shell Overseas Trading Ltd have 25 per cent stake each.
Brunei LNG produces 6.71 million tonnes of LNG every year and it operates seven LNG carriers through the joint venture company, Brunei Shell Tankers.
Currently, some 548 million cubic feet per day equivalent of LNG is being re-gasified daily, totaling the country's overall natural gas output to around 3,103 mmcfd, according Petrobangla statistics as on September 28.
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