Cyclone damage disrupts four June spot LNG deliveries

Bangladesh has cancelled and deferred four spot liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargoes scheduled for delivery in June as one of its LNG terminals remains out of operation following damage caused by Cyclone Remal in late May.
State-run Rupantarita Prakritik Gas Company Ltd (RPGCL) has cancelled one cargo and deferred two from Gunvor Singapore Pte Ltd; and has also cancelled one cargo from QatarEnergy Trading LLC, according to market sources.
The operation suspension at the Summit terminal has led to a 500 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) shortfall in gas supply to the national grid. The supply crunch affects power generation amid high power demand due to hot weather requiring increased use of air conditioning and irrigation for paddy fields.

However, a senior Petrobangla official has downplayed the impact.
He said that gas-guzzling industries, power plants and households are unlikely to be affected too much, as the Eid-ul-Azha holiday begins on Sunday and the capital would take time to shake off the festive mood -- letting the gas demand remain lower.
The official added that regular maintenance work is also scheduled for Chevron's Bibiyana and Jalalabad gas fields during the Eid vacation, coinciding with the period of lower demand.
However, due to the unavailability of the Summit terminal, there could be an uptick in load-shedding after the Eid holiday when people return to work.
The Petrobangla official, citing a letter from Summit, said the terminal's floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) will not be in operation until July 13.
"But we hope that Summit will be back earlier as it in the letter intended to resume operation as soon as possible," the official added.
The official said the FSRU has already left its mooring facility at Moheshkhali Island in the Bay of Bengal for repairs, which will be carried out either in Singapore or the Middle East.
Before departing, the FSRU regasified around 40,000-50,000 cubic metres of LNG that were on board at the time of the cyclone damage, he added.
More delivery rescheduling likely
The senior Petrobangla official shared the details of cancelled and deferred LNG cargoes.
He said Gunvor Singapore Pte Ltd was awarded three tenders by Bangladesh's highest public procurement body the Cabinet Committee on Government Purchase to deliver spot LNG cargoes for June 7-9, June 9-11 and June 28-29.
Bangladesh was supposed to purchase the June 7-9 and June 9-11 cargoes from Gunvor at $10.4622 per million British thermal units (MMBtu), while the June 28-29 cargo was priced at $12.9697 per MMBtu, the official added.
Separately, Bangladesh also cancelled a spot LNG cargo from QatarEnergy Trading LLC, which was scheduled for delivery between June 19-21. The price of this cargo was set at $10.30 per MMBtu.
Each of the four cancelled or deferred LNG cargoes contained a volume of around 3.36 million MMBtu, the official said.
The RPGCL, a wholly owned subsidiary of Petrobangla, looks after LNG trading in Bangladesh.
The official said Petrobangla has also approached its long-term LNG suppliers, Qatargas and OQ Trading International, requesting them to reschedule several LNG delivery cargoes in order to manage the situation caused by the terminal outage.
He also feared that additional LNG cargo cancellations might be required due to the ongoing situation.
Five LNG cargoes rescheduled in previous cyclone
During the previous Cyclone Mocha in 2023, Petrobangla was forced to reschedule at least five LNG cargoes when the country's floating LNG terminals were shut down, according to market insiders.
At that time, Bangladesh deferred deliveries from both long-term suppliers and spot supplier TotalEnergies.
Ahead of the cyclone last year, the country's both floating LNG terminals -- owned by Summit Group and US-based Excelerate Energy -- were taken offline as a precaution on May 12.
The Summit LNG terminal remained moored and was able to resume supplying regasified LNG by the afternoon of May 15, 2023.
Excelerate Energy's FSRU Excellence took a longer break. It departed to deeper waters after disconnecting from its mooring system to prepare for the cyclone. The vessel resumed operations on May 20, 2023, following an eight-day hiatus.
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