A cargo vessel before reaching Moheshkhali with the country's first LNG shipment on Tuesday — Focus Bangla Bangladesh received its first LNG shipment from Qatar aboard the floating, storage and re-gasification unit (FSRU) at Moheshkhali LNG terminal, State Minister for Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid told the FE after its arrival on Tuesday.
A new era started in the country's energy sector with the import of liquefied natural gas (LNG), he said.
"We will continue importing LNG from global market to meet the country's mounting energy demand and as part of our decision to diversify energy sources."
Necessary infrastructure has been prepared to initiate supply of re-gasified LNG after necessary tests, tie-up of pipelines and synchronisation, he added.
"The FSRU, owned by US-based Excelerate Energy Bangladesh Ltd, carried 133,000 cubic meter (cm) of lean LNG to supply re-gasified LNG to consumers," managing director of state-owned Rupantarita Prakritik Gas Company Ltd Md Quamruzzaman said on Tuesday.
Commercial supply of re-gasified LNG to national gas grid might start from mid-May to supply the fuel to consumer-end.
The first LNG cargo could supply re-gasified LNG for around 15-20 days, depending on demand from the consumers, he added.
Deliveries from Qatar are part of a sales and purchase agreement with RasGas for supplying 2.5 million tonnes of LNG per year, priced at 12.5 per cent of the three-month average of Brent plus an additional US$ 0.5 per unit (1 MMBTU).
Cabinet committee on April 19 approved inking a final sales and purchase agreement (SPA) with Oman Trading International (OTI) to import around 1.0 million tonnes of LNG per year for 10 years.
The government is also in negotiations with other suppliers and is planning to sign binding LNG SPAs for more than 3.0 million tonnes per year shortly.
FSRU has a capacity of 3.75 million tonnes of LNG, and will be moored at Moheshkhali near Chittagong Port. Bangladesh's second LNG import terminal, a 3.75-million tonnes per year FSRU now being developed by local Summit Group, is expected to be commissioned in October.
The country is in negotiations with four other suppliers for long-term deals, and is also eyeing short-term and spot purchases.
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