RasGas Starts Regular Shipments to Bangladesh
Qatar's RasGas will start regular supplies of LNG to Bangladesh from September 9, Petrobangla chairman Abul Mansur Mohammad Faizullah told NGW September 5. (see update at end of story)
It will be delivered to the south Asian country's first LNG import facility FSRU Excellence, on a long-term charter from its US owner Excelerate, berthed at Moheshkhali island in the Bay of Bengal.
A year ago Petrobangla signed the country’s first-ever LNG import contract whereby Qatar's RasGas will supply 2.5mn mt/year over the next 15 years. The 138,000 m3 shipment arriving shortly will be the first delivered 'ex-ship', meaning the price includes transportation costs and Petrobangla will take delivery of it at the terminal, Faizullah added. Three similar-sized cargoes are expected to be delivered by RasGas initially every month.
Excelerate's FSRU Excellence arrived offshore in April with a 136,000 m3 cargo of Qatari LNG, but was kept stranded off the south coast for more than three months. The FSRU only docked and connected to the subsea pipe that brings regas ashore on August 5, finally beginning to inject the gas in the weeks that followed. Regasified LNG is currently being supplied to the city of Chattogram (known until April as which Chittagong).
Regarding the mechanism to foot LNG import bills, Faizullah said a proposal to raise domestic gas prices is pending with the Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission. He hoped BERC would increase natural gas tariffs to pave the way for LNG payment as, otherwise, the government would be required to provide extra funding.
Update September 10: The RasGas cargo arrived and began unloading on the evening of September 9 and is expected to complete unloading on the evening of September 11.