Excelerate Energy has become the best bidder to supply a cargo of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the spot market for April 22-23 delivery, said sources.
They said the US-based oil and gas firm offered US$13.69 per million British thermal unit (MMBTU) as the tender was closed on Monday.
The bid results show a sign of declining trend in LNG prices in the international spot market.
Half a dozen of other suppliers including Vitol Asia, Petro China and Gunvor Singapore also submitted their bids in response to the latest tender, floated a week ago, with the highest offer of around $17 per MMBTU, said an official.
The cabinet committee on government purchases is expected to approve awarding the latest LNG supply deal to the best bidder at its meeting to be held within the next couple of days.
Excelerate would then supply around 3.20 million MMBTU of lean LNG at a cost of around Tk 5.80 billion.
The company has been present in Bangladesh since 2018 when it commissioned Bangladesh's first FSRU, Excellence, at Moheshkhali island in the Bay of Bengal.
It also owns the other operating floating, storage and re-gasification unit (FSRU) at the Summit LNG Terminal in Moheshkhali with a 15-year charter agreement.
In addition to providing the FSRU, Excelerate has been acting as the owner's engineer for Summit regarding the fixed infrastructure components of the terminal, which included a subsea plug, mooring system, and subsea pipeline.
Bangladesh previously purchased a similar cargo from French energy company TotalEnergies at $14.66 per MMBtu for April 6-7 delivery to the Moheshkhali FSRU.
With these two spot LNG cargoes, Bangladesh is set to import a total of eight LNG cargoes in April, which will be 14.28 per cent higher than that of this month (March).
The country will require an estimated US$450 million (Taka 45 billion) to import the increased quantity of LNG, meant for meeting a mounting demand for fuel in the industries and power plants, according to an estimate by a Petrobangla official.
Of the total six cargoes Bangladesh will buy from the long-term suppliers, Qatargas will supply four and Oman Trading International, or OTI, currently known as OQ will supply two in April.
Bangladesh's Brent crude-linked purchasing cost of LNG from its two long term suppliers Qatargas and OQ currently hovers below US$10.50 per MMBTU considering Brent-crude price at US$73 per barrel.
Bangladesh's overall natural gas output is currently hovering around 2,892 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) including 720 mmcfd of re-gasified LNG, according to Petrobangla statistics as on March 21, 2023.
Before ceasing LNG import from the spot market from July last year, Bangladesh had imported its last LNG cargo for June 22-23, 2022 delivery to its Moheshkhali FSRU from Gunvor Singapore Pte Ltd at $24.75 per MMBTu.
Bangladesh resumed spot LNG import with February 21-22, 2023 delivery amid raising the natural gas tariffs by up to 178.88 per cent from February 1, 2023 to secure funds for importing increased quantities of LNG and to meet the growing domestic demands, especially in industries, and ensure uninterrupted supply of gas to the consumers.
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