State-owned Rupantarita Prakritik Gas Company Limited (RPGCL) has been assigned to operate liquefied natural gas (LNG) related activities.
According to Energy and Mineral Resources Division (EMRD), Petrobangla has assigned one of its own company’s – RPGCL – to the task.
On December 29 last year, a letter signed by Petrobangla Director Md Quamruzzaman asked that RPGCL be assigned to operate LNG-related works instead of forming a new company for the job.
The government is expected to sign the final deal with Singapore-based Excelerate Energy Limited Partnership this month for building the country’s first floating LNG terminal on Moheshkhali Island in the Bay of Bengal, a Petrobangla official told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.
Excelerate Energy has already carried out a met-ocean study and found building the terminal viable.
The firm will also carry out a geo-technical study and detailed engineering design before starting the construction.
It will build the terminal within 16 months of signing the final deal. LNG import might start in early 2017.
Petrobangla will pay 0.474 cents per million BTU (mmbtu) – a measure of the energy content in fuel – for the unit on a build-own-operate-transfer basis for 15 years. It will receive the LNG within the range between 500 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) and 600mmcfd.
The LNG storage capacity of the unit will be 138,000 cubic metres. Petrobangla will pay the port service charges and tax on behalf of Excelerate Energy during the period.
A Petrobangla official said once the terminal is set up, the government would have to import LNG from Qatar or other countries for $16-$18 per unit.
On the other hand, Petrobangla has invited expressions of interest (EoIs) from prospective bidders to implement two more land-based LNG terminals at Moheshkhali in Cox’s Bazar and Payra maritime port area. The last date of EoI submission is February 15.
At present, the country’s gas production is about 2,700mmcfd against a demand of 3,300mmcfd.