Summit LNG Terminal would require one more week to fix its technical problem as the divers are struggling to repair its subsea messenger rope amid adverse weather in the Bay of Bengal.
The foreign divers were making 2-3 attempts per day but so far failed to repair the damage, a senior official at the State-run Rupantarita Prakritik Gas Company Ltd ( RPGCL) told the FE on Thursday.
He attributed low slack time, ranging 10 to 20 minutes, due to strong wind, huge waves and volatile sea to the failed attempts, and said that unclear water during the ongoing monsoon is also delaying the repair works.
Bangladesh is unlikely to float any fresh tender to purchase LNG from the spot market until the Summit's floating, storage, regasification unit (FSRU) comes online, he said.
Natural gas supply from the country's LNG import facilities reduced substantially due to the suspension of the regasification at the terminal.
RPGCL, a wholly owned subsidiary of Petrobangla, looks after LNG trading in Bangladesh.
The South Asian country has been struggling to receive LNG cargoes for re-gasification after purchases due to halt in operations of the terminal following recurrent accidents, he said.
One spot LNG cargo vessel of Excelerate Energy, carrying around 3.36 million MMBTu of LNG, remained idle in the deep sea for around 15 days due to the prolonged delay in operation of the terminal.
The vessel, however, started delivering LNG on July 30 to Excelerate Energy's FSRU.
RPGCL purchased the cargo at US$13.55 per million British thermal unit (MMBTu) for July 15-19 delivery.
The government is set to pay a penalty as demurrage for not receiving the LNG in time, the official said, without figuring out the amount of the penalty.
Another spot LNG cargo, owned by Total Energies Gas and Power Ltd, which was due to deliver on July 24-25 windows, has been deferred due to prolonged delay in operation of the terminal, he said.
Previously, Bangladesh had to cancel four spot LNG cargoes for June deliveries following the initial accident of the Summit's FSRU owing to cyclone Remal mayhem.
The LNG terminal had shut operations on May 30 after spotting damage in its FSRU.
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