Govt mulls converting Bhola island gas to LNG

The government mulls converting around 30 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) of unutilised natural gas of gas-rich Bhola island to LNG and carrying it to gas-starved industries in the mainland for consumption, said sources.
The volume of converted LNG to be processed from Bhola gas will be only 2.72 per cent of the country's existing LNG re-gasification capacity of 1,100 mmcfd.
The LNG to be processed from Bhola, located around 130 km off the coast from Dhaka, will be carried through river, with storage facilities of around 150 mmcfd each on both banks, a recent meeting of the Energy and Mineral Resources Division under the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources (MPEMR) decided recently.
State-run Petrobangla has taken the initiative to bring untapped gas from Bhola island as natural gas demand there is not increasing significantly, while industries in mainland have been facing scarcity for long," said a senior Petrobangla official.
This plan can be executed as an interim plan to utilise Bhola's existing stranded gas, which would ensure availability of LNG at cheaper rate than the import costs, said the official.
Initially, industrial consumers around the Dhaka city, where the gas crisis is acute, would be provided Bhola gas through LNG, he said.
Interested parties in the private sector would be awarded contracts to buy natural gas from Bhola gas fields, liquefy it, and carry LNG to prescribed points to be fixed by Petrobangla to facilitate consumption by industries, as per the plan.
The re-gasification unit would be installed near the consumer end on a cluster or individual basis following discussions with the consumers, he said.
The contractor will receive natural gas from the Bhola gas fields on a take-or-pay basis, meaning it must pay for gas regardless of whether it takes gas or not, said the official.
The selling price of regasified LNG should be within Tk 47.50 per cubic meter.
At present, older industries pay Tk 30 per cubic meter of gas, while new factories pay Tk 40 per cubic meter, he said, adding that for captive power plants built by industry owners for smooth power generation, older units pay Tk 31.50 per cubic meter and newer ones pay Tk 42 cubic meter.
More than half a dozen interested companies have already submitted proposals to carry Bhola gas to the mainland in LNG form, he said.
The companies include China National Machinery Import & Export Corporation (CMC), Meghna Ship and Engineering, Dhaka, Chuanging Drilling Engineering Company Ltd. (CDECL), Hongsing New Energy Bangladesh Ltd, and Green State Tanjin Lvzhou Energy Group and Global Commerce Gateway (GCG).
Petrobangla will select a potential company among them soon, and the selected company must complete the project within 12 months of signing the contract, he said.
State-run Rupantarita Prakritik Gas Company Ltd, or RPGCL, a subsidiary of Petrobangla, will look after the technical issues of this project, while Petrobangla's another subsidiary Titas Gas Transmission & Distribution Plc (TGTD Plc) -- will coordinate and monitor supply of re-gasified LNG to consumers.
The project's tenure would be 10 years, which could be extended.
Only one gas field, out of three discovered gas fields, is currently producing around 90 mmcfd of gas for local consumers on Bhola island against its production capacity of 120 mmcfd, according to official data from Petrobangla.
Bhola's total production potential would be around 200 mmcfd if the potential of the two other discovered gas fields is considered, said a senior official of state-owned Bangladesh Petroleum Exploration and Production Company Ltd (BAPEX).
BAPEX will initiate drilling of five new wells on Bhola island by a Chinese company Sinopec soon at a cost of around Taka 11 billion ($89.43 million), he said.
The Chinese company will have to carry out the drilling work of five wells within 600 days of signing deals, said the BAPEX official.
Upon completion of five new well drillings, the number of gas wells drilled in Bhola will total 14, he said.
Besides, Petrobangla has planned to step up hydrocarbon exploration on the island, with another 14 wells to be offered to potential contractors in the coming years.
Bangladesh has been importing LNG since April 2018 and currently from Qatar and Oman are supplying LNG, under long term deals, for regasification at its two operational floating, storage and regasification units (FSRUs).
Bangladesh also imports LNG under a short-term deal from Oman.
It has been rationing gas supply to industries, power plants and other gas-guzzling consumers to cope with the mounting natural gas demand, according to the Petrobangla official.
The country's overall natural gas output -- local gas and imported combined -- was around 2,644 mmcfd, including 872 mmcfd of regasified LNG, against the demand for over 4,000 mmcfd, according to official data as of December 11, 2025.

Azizjst@yahoo.com