The government has turned down a proposal of Trafigura to supply around 150-200 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) of re-gasified LNG (liquefied natural gas) through small FSRUs due to disagreement over a number of issues.
"We have annulled Trafigura's proposal as we failed to reach a consensus during negotiations with the LNG supplier," a senior official of the Energy and Mineral Resources Division under the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources told the FE.
There were around fifteen to sixteen unresolved issues between the state-run Rupantorita Prakrtitik Gas Company Ltd (RPGCL) and the Trafigura, which led to the termination of the negotiation, he said.
Trafigura was one of the two firms that were picked from a total of 13 firms that had initially shown interest to build two small FSRUs in addition to import of LNG, re-gasification and supply of the same to the transmission pipeline owned by state-run Gas Transmission Company Ltd, or GTCL, he said.
Trafigura's small FSRU was proposed to be installed near the jetty of state-owned Chittagong Urea Fertilizer Company Ltd (CUFL).
However, the joint venture of Gunvor and Exmar was picked to set up the small FSRU at the jetty of Karnaphuli Fertilizer Company Ltd (Kafco) on the River Karnaphuli near the Bay of Bengal, he said.
The government had planned to build these small FSRUs on the basis of unsolicited offers under the Speedy Supply of Power and Energy (Special Provision) Act, 2010.
The law has a provision of providing immunity to those involved with the quick-fix remedies to power and energy sector problems.
The US-based Excelerate Energy Bangladesh Ltd (EEBL) has already brought in the country's first floating, storage and re-gasification unit (FSRU) -- Excellence -- after loading 136,009 cubic metres of lean LNG from Qatar's RasGas on April 24.
The delay in construction of necessary pipeline along with tie-up and 'synchronisation' complexities has, however, held up the supply of re-gasified LNG to consumers.
Azizjst@yahoo.com