The government is to establish a company for importing liquefied natural gas (LNG) and distribute it through a terminal.
The company is likely to be named LNG Company Limited while the purpose of importing LNG is to avoid an energy crisis in the country which could affect supply in the future.
“It will be the country’s first-ever land-based LNG terminal which is to be built in Chittagong’s Anwara or Moheshkhali in Cox’s Bazar. To maintain the terminal and to import LNG, we have made a decision in principle to set up the company,” Director General of Power Cell, a state-owned entity under the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources, Mohammad Hossain told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.
On July 9, a meeting was held at the Power Ministry in this regard.
The onshore terminal would be the country’s second LNG terminal, with the other planned to be built offshore.
Power Cell floated a tender seeking EOIs (Expressions of Interest) from global companies in mid-April to build the terminal, with a handling capacity of 3.5 million tonnes a year.
“The terminal will be set up on a build-own-operate basis. LNG from the terminal will be supplied to gas-based power plants,” said Hossain.
“For constructing the company under the Power Ministry, the legal infrastructure is being prepared,” he said, adding that it will be registered with the Registrar of Joint Stock Companies and Firms.
Hossain said the company would function independently, ensuring transparency and competency in human resources. Meanwhile, 15 international firms have so far submitted EOIs.
Hossain said the Power Cell was planning to set up the terminal to feed a proposed 1,000MW combined cycle power plant, as well as the existing power plants in Raujan and Sikalbaha, by one or more high-pressure gas transmission pipelines to be connected to it.
The Energy and Mineral Resources Division has decided to set up the country’s first floating storage and re-gasification unit, also known as LNG terminal, in Moheshkhali of Cox’s Bazar.
The country has been facing an acute gas crisis as the daily production recently stood at around 2,300 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) against a demand of 3,000mmcfd.
