The proposal for setting up an LNG terminal on Moheshkhali Island in Cox’s Bazar has been sent to a technical committee for review after the Energy and Mineral Resources Division (EMRD) could not agree on some of the offers proposed by US-based Astra Oil and Excelerate Energy Consortium.
“The members of the Project Processing Committee (PPC), which was formed to run the LNG terminal, sat to discuss about Astra Oil and Excelerate Energy Consortium’s offers today [Monday]; but they were not able to agree on some points,” EMRD Secretary Md Mozammel Haque Khan told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.
For this reason, the proposal of the country’s first floating storage and re-gasification unit (FSRU) – widely known as Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) terminal – has been sent for further analysis to a technical committee, which was asked to submit report by June 15, he said.
The day after receiving the report, the PPC will sit in a meeting with Astra Oil once more, Mozammel added.
If the technical committee gives its approval, a meeting, scheduled for June 16, will also decide on whether an initial agreement will be signed with the consortium, said Mozammel.
Sources said the points in dispute include the consortium’s demand to reduce the performance bond money and extend the duration for LNG terminal maintenance.
Earlier, US-based Astra agreed to give $20m as a performance bond to implement the project.
The EMRD secretary said they were planning to sign the contract by December this year under the Speedy Supply of Power and Energy (Special Provision) Act, so that the terminal could be set up within a year and a half.
He also said the contractor company agreed to work under a build-own-operate-transfer basis for a period of 15 years.
The consortium has agreed to transfer the FSRU to Petrobangla without any cost after 15 years, with re-gasification tariff at $0.39 for every million cubic feet per day (mmcfd).
