Bangladesh Could Buy LNG from Qatari RasGas

Bangladesh is likely to procure 3.75mn metric tons of LNG at an estimated cost of $2.28bn from Qatar state-owned RasGas by a direct procurement method, The Daily Sun reported January 18.

According to the newspaper, the prime minister’s office has recently accepted a proposal from the Energy and Mineral Resources Division to negotiate with RasGas for fixing tariff of LNG import under a government-to-government negotiation. Bangladesh is facing gas supply shortage of 700mn ft³/d.

Because of the rising domestic demand for gas, the government has been working actively to source LNG from international markets. To make the import process easier, a lot of emphasis is being laid on infrastructure. Last year, state owned Petrobangla signed a contract with Excelerate Energy under which the latter would build and operate a floating terminal in Moheshkhali.

The company January 4 signed a second contract with local private sector firm Summit Group to build a floating LNG terminal, also at Moheshkhali Island, offshore from Cox’s Bazaar, near the industrial Chittagong region.

Petrobangla also signed an agreement with Indian Petronet LNG for a land based import terminal. The project includes setting up a regasification terminal at Kutubdia island along with gas pipeline. The capacity of the terminal is likely to be 7.5mn mt/yr at an expected project cost of $950mn.

The Daily Sun in its report said that the government is looking to sign contracts with a global firm to set up more floating units. 

Shardul Sharma