LNG import from India likely

 The state-owned North-West Power Generation Company Ltd (NWPGCL) is actively considering import of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from India to run an 800-megawatt combined-cycle power plant in Khulna.
A top official said Thursday that NWPGCL has planned to import around 125 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) equivalent of re-gasified LNG from India's West Bengal by June 2018.
"We already held talks with the Indian state-owned Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL) and H Energy to facilitate import of LNG for the power plant to be located in southwestern Bangladesh," NWPGCL managing director A.M. Khurshedul Alam told the FE.
A 10-member joint working group has already been constituted with five members from the NWPGCL and as many from GAIL and H Energy to implement the project on import of LNG from the planned offshore LNG terminal of West Bengal, he said.
Mr Alam along with a Bangladeshi delegation visited India and held talks with Indian companies last month to move forward its plan to import the fuel from India.
India's H-Energy is working to build an 8-million-tonne-per-year-capacity LNG terminal in West Bengal's Digha area, he said.
Indian authority is expected to issue work order for building the LNG terminal by June 2015. Construction will complete within three years to facilitate LNG import by June 2018, the NWPGCL top brass said while elaborating the outcome of the discussion with GAIL and H Energy.
"We have a plan to import initially around 125 mmcfd equivalent of re-gasified LNG from West Bengal," he said.
The LNG import might be extended to 500 mmcfd and 1.0 billion cubic feet per day (Bcfd) in future, depending on requirement, he said.
A total of 118 kilometre-long pipeline -- Kolkata-Benapole (72 km) and Benapole-Jessore (46 km) -- will be required to be constructed to pump the LNG from India into Bangladesh's national gas grid, said Mr Alam.
Another state company, Gas Transmission Company Ltd (GTCL), would build the gas-transmission pipeline inside Bangladesh, while GAIL of India will build it on their side.
The Manila-based Asian Development Bank (ADB) might finance the US$700 million LNG-based power-plant project in Khulna, he hoped.
Officials said the government has moved to import LNG by different means to cope with the mounting natural gas demand.
On June 26, Petrobangla signed a preliminary agreement with US Astra Oil and Excelerate Energy to build 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 is to be inked on completion of legal vetting and approval by a Bangladeshi cabinet committee.
Separately, Power Cell, a state-owned entity under the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources (MPEMR), is currently evaluating 15 expressions of interest (EoIs) to build and take a majority stake in Bangladesh's first onshore LNG terminal to be located at Matarbari on Moheshkhali Island in the Bay of Bengal.
Power Cell has moved to build the onshore LNG terminal in the south -- with a handling capacity of 3.5 million tonnes per year -- on build-own-operate basis.
Bangladesh inked a memorandum of understanding with Qatar in January 2011 to import 4 million tonnes of LNG per year from Qatar Petroleum. The MoU has been extended until June 2015. Final import deal of LNG is, however, yet to be signed.
LNG terminals are crucial for the country as it is reeling from an acute gas crisis due to the fast depletion of current reserves and dearth of new discoveries.
Country's overall gas output currently stands around 2,320 mmcfd against the demand for 3,000 mmcfd.