Petronet Files Bangladesh Terminal Proposal

India’s Petronet LNG has submitted a concrete proposal to the Bangladeshi government to build a land-based LNG import terminal in the country, Press Trust of India reported July 27.  

"We have told them that we can build the land-based LNG receiving facility in 42 months from the date of receiving all approvals," the news agency quoted Petronet CEO Prabhat Singh saying. The Indian company has made a formal proposal with techno-economic details including the cost to the Bangladesh government for approval.

Petronet and Bangladesh state Petrobangla in late-2016 signed a memorandum of understanding to set up LNG import infrastructure in the south Asian nation. The project includes setting up LNG regasification terminal at Kutubdia island along with a gas pipeline to carry the regasified LNG. The capacity of the terminal is likely to be 7.5mn mt/yr at an expected project cost of $950mn.

Bangladesh imported its first LNG cargo on April 24 from Qatar, on board the floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) Excellence, at the port of Moheshkhali. The project was co-developed by Petrobangla, US specialist shipowner Excelerate Energy and IFC, a member of the World Bank group, with a project cost of $180mn. However due to technical glitches, FSRU Excellence has yet to start regasifying into the country's gas system.