Govt to hold talks with ENOC for LPG terminal

Bangladesh will hold talks with Dubai-based Emirates National Oil Company (ENOC) to set up a liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) terminal in the country, a Dhaka-based official said on Tuesday, reports Reuters.

"ENOC has sent us a proposal for a joint venture project to build a liquefied petroleum gas terminal," said Sayed Mohammad Mozammel Haque, a director of state-owned Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation.

"We have invited them for detail discussions in our office in Dhaka. They are supposed to come on October 11," he told Reuters, adding the capacity for the terminal and all other details will be discussed during the meeting.

Bangladesh currently imports LPG mostly from Oman and Qatar, he said.

Transport costs for LPG are now about US $100 per tonne but once the terminal is built that cost could fall to $30, which would translate into a 10 per cent lower price for end-users, said Haque.

The government is encouraging the use of LPG for households to cope with a shortfall in supplies of natural gas.

LPG, a mixture of propane and butane, can be used for cooking and transport, as well as in the petrochemical industry.

Bangladesh's demand for LPG now stands at 1.0 million tonnes a year against a supply of 600,000 tonnes, the official said.

The demand could go up to 2.0 million tonnes by 2022 as LPG will be a key source for cooking gas in the country's households.

Bangladesh has also turned to liquefied natural gas (LNG) to offset falling domestic gas output to feed industrial demand and electricity generation in the nation of 160 million people.