Bangladesh to Procure two LNG Carriers

Bangladesh Shipping Corporation will procure two LNG vessels from China that will be used for supplying the fuel to the country’s first floating terminal that Excelerate Energy will build and operate at Moheshkhali, Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha (BSS), Bangladesh's national news agency reported February 14.

A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed between BSC and the Chinese Institute of Marine and Offshore Engineering HB Company in Dhaka. The capacity of each carrier vessel is to be 40,000 m³.

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. Excelerate signed an agreement with Petrobangla last year. An agreement for second FSRU was signed in January between Petrobangla and local private sector firm Summit Group.

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 a gas pipeline. The capacity of the terminal is likely to be 7.5mn mt/yr at an expected project cost of $950mn.

Shardul Sharma