Bangladesh Extends LNG Construction Tender

Bangladesh has extended the deadline for expressions of interest (EOI) for its planned 7.5mn mt/yr onshore LNG import terminal by three months, a senior government official told NGW March 21. Rupantorito Prakritik Gas Company (RPGCL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of state-owned Petrobangla, issued the tender January 29, with the initial deadline of March 20.

"But we extended the deadline on March 14 following requests from some prospective bidders," the RPGCL official said, requesting anonymity. So far two companies, one of which is from Japane, have submitted EOIs, said the official without naming either.

The winner would build, own and operate the terminal at Cox's Bazaar district for 20 years and transfer it to the state. Bangladesh now has a 3.75mn mt/yr floating terminal (FSRU), Excellence, operated by US Excelerate Energy. A second FSRU owned by local Summit Group is expected to come online soon.

Commercial supply of re-gasified LNG to Bangladeshi consumers started August 18, 2018 and Petrobangla started regular imports of LNG from Qatar's RasGas September 9. The Excellence delivers about 510mn ft³ regasified LNG.

Apart from RasGas, Oman Trading International started supplying LNG in June under long-term deals and Indonesia's Pertamina has a letter of intent to supply Bangladesh with around 1mn mt/yr for 10 years. Domestic output is hovering at around 2.75bn ft³/d.