Dhaka Looks to Set Up a FSRU in Bay of Bengal

Bangladesh government’s Energy and Mineral Resources Division will seek approval from cabinet next week for setting up a FSRU at Moheshkhali Island in the Bay of Bengal, according to Dhaka Tribune, a local newspaper.

State owned Petrobangla will implement the project. Earlier this year, the company signed an agreement with US-based Astra Oil and Excelerate Energy Consortium (AE).

“We will sign the final deal on setting up the terminal after getting approval from the cabinet committee on economic affairs,” Petrobangla Chairman Hossain Monsur told the Dhaka Tribune.

They would set up the terminal within 16 months from the date of signing the final agreement. “We hope that we will be able to import LNG by June 2016,” he added.

AE would have to invest $500 million as infrastructure cost and other expenses to set up the terminal on a build-own-operate-transfer basis, the newspaper stated.

According to the term sheet, Petrobangla will pay 0.474 cents per mmbtu for 15 years. The terminal will have the LNG storage capacity of 138,000 cubic metres.