Indian Oil Corporation Ltd has shown interest to export re-gasified liquefied natural gas (LNG) to run a 750-800 megawatt (MW) combined cycle power plant (CCPP) in Khulna, said officials.
The state-run Indian Oil Corporation, also known as IndianOil, has proposed supplying around 250 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) of re-gasified LNG, almost double than the requirement of the power plant to generate the proposed quantity of electricity.
"IndianOil is keen to ink a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on the issue soon," a senior official of Bangladesh's state-owned North-West Power Generation Company Ltd (NWPGCL), the implementing authority of the power plant project, told the FE.
He said NWPGCL will require around 130 mmcfd of gas to run the power plant in Khulna.
As per the proposal, IndianOil would supply re-gasified LNG from a LNG terminal being built by Indian H-Energy in West Bengal's Digha port area.
NWPGCL has already held talks with Indian H-Energy which will facilitate import of LNG. It wants to use H-Energy's terminal on a payment basis.
NWPGCL has also held talks to import around 130 mmcfd of re-gasified LNG from West Bengal of India by June 2018 to run the planned power plant.
LNG import might be increased to 500 mmcfd and 1.0 billion cubic feet per day (Bcfd) in future, depending on requirements.
A 118-kilometre pipeline-Kolkata-Benapole (72 km) and Benapole-Jessore (46 km) -- will have to be set up to pump LNG from India into Bangladesh's national gas grid in Jessore.
The cost of building the infrastructure and power plant under the project will be around US$ 600 million.
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The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has shown interest to provide funds aiming to facilitate import of re-gasified LNG from India.
The Manila-based development partner is willing to finance the project as it deals with cross-country energy business, said a senior official of the Power Division under the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources (MPEMR).
The ADB has already provided funds to implement the project, involving import of electricity to Bangladesh from India.
Officials said the government has moved to import LNG in different ways to cope with the mounting demand for natural gas.
Different state-run companies have also moved to build LNG import facilities, following the government's directives to diversify the country's energy sources.
As a part of the moves, Petrobangla signed an agreement with the Excelerate Energy Partnership to build the country's first LNG import terminal at Moheshkhali Island in the Bay of Bengal.
The offshore terminal will have a capacity of 5.0 million tonnes per year. A final deal will be inked after legal vetting and approval by a cabinet committee.
Separately, the Power Cell, a state-owned entity under the MPEMR, has short-listed three expressions of interest (EoIs) from interested parties to build and take a majority stake in Bangladesh's first onshore LNG terminal to be built at Matarbari on Moheshkhali Island.
Power Cell has moved to set up the onshore LNG terminal in the south with a handling capacity of 3.5 million tonnes per year on a build-own-operate basis.
Bangladesh inked a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Qatar in January 2011 to import 4.0 million tonnes of LNG per year from the Qatar Petroleum. The MoU has been extended up to June 2015. But the final deal on import of LNG has not been signed yet.
mazizur.rahman@outlook.com