[Premium] Bangladesh Ready for April 25 Regas

Bangladesh will initially depend on Qatari LNG to feed its consumers with re-gasified imported LNG as the country aims to start supplying the fuel commercially to end-users from May 1, the CEO of state-run Rupantarita Prakritik Gas Company, Md Quamruzzaman, told NGW March 22.

Imported LNG is expected to help bridge the gap between gas production of around 2.7bn ft³/d and domestic demand of around 3.30bn ft³/d.

He said the country is expected to commission the FSRU and initiate supplying of re-gasified LNG from the platform to the national gas grid on test basis on April 25, he said.

US-based Excelerate Energy’s FSRU is expected to reach the terminal spot at Moheshkhali island in the Bay of Bengal on April 23 carrying 130,000m³ of Qatari LNG. It will take a couple of days to synchronise the FSRU with associated facilities and pipe lines, metering stations and so on.

RasGas would supply at least three LNG cargoes for re-gasification to meet two months' demand: the country not yet inked any sales and purchase agreement (SPA) or master sales agreement to import term or spot LNG from other suppliers, Quamruzzaman said. 

Excelerate’s FSRU is now in a dry dock in Dubai of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), from where it will leave for Qatar on April 12-13 to load LNG, a senior energy ministry official involved with the issue said; it will leave for Moheshkhali on April 14.

Bangladesh is preparing for the new gas supply, state-run Petrobangla chairman Abul Mansur Md Faizullah told NGW. The government has planned to supply the re-gasified LNG initially to port city Chittagong, where the natural gas crisis is acute, he said.

Chittagong is the nearest city to Moheshkhali Island where Excelerate’s FSRU-based LNG import terminal is. Consumers from other parts of the country will also benefit indirectly as the existing supply to Chittagong will be cut by 200mn ft³/d to feed other areas especially the capital and its adjoining areas, he said.

The government plans to resume gas supplies to all consumers apart from households, Faizullah said. The power sector is expected to consume most of the LNG, he said. For households, the government has expanded the use of liquid petroleum gas.

Gas consumers including power plants and industries in Chittagong can use a maximum 350mn ft³/d, a senior official of Karnaphuli Gas Distribution Company (KGDCL) said. The company is responsible for supplying gas to consumers in Chittagong, Rangamati, Khagrachori, Bandarban and Cox's Bazar districts.

Bangladesh is expected to ink SPAs with several other term suppliers and MSAs with around half a dozen of spot LNG suppliers within the next couple of months, he added.

The newly constructed 91-km, 30-in pipeline from Moheshkhali to Anowara can carry up to 800mn ft³/d and will take re-gasified LNG to Chittagong, the CEO of state-run Gas Transmission Company Ltd (GTCL) Md Atiquzzaman said.

GTCL is now building the 30-km, 42-in Anwara-Fouzdarhat gas transmission pipeline to carry re-gasified LNG beyond Chittagong region, he said. 

According to a study by Copenhagen-based Ramboll, Bangladesh's gas reserves of around 12 trillion ft³ are likely to be completely depleted by 2038, if no new exploration and discovery take place. The share of LNG in the country's natural gas supply will grow from 17% in 2018 to 40% in 2023, 50% in 2028, and 70% in 2041, as a result, it added.

Bangladesh's second LNG import terminal, a 3.75mn mt/year floating storage and regasification unit, developed by local Summit Group, is expected to be commissioned in October. Bangladesh signed its first sales and purchase agreement with Qatar's RasGas in September for the annual delivery of 2.5 million mt of LNG over 15 years. The country is in negotiations with four other suppliers for long-term deals and is also eyeing short-term and spot purchases.