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CHATTOGRAM, Feb 10: The government has a plan to establish three additional liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals alongside the existing two for re-gasifying imported gas.
Two of these will be situated in Moheshkhali and Matarbari in Cox's Bazar, while the third will be at Payra, with two being floating and one land-based. The capacity of the existing Floating Storage and Regasification Units (FSRU) will be expanded from 500mmcft to 630mmcft per day.
The total re-gasification capacity of the proposed LNG terminals is set to reach 2,000mmcft per day.
The initial two FSRUs, one from Summit Group and the other from Excelerate Energy, are expected to commence operations in 2026 and 2028, respectively.
For the floating terminals, Excelerate Energy will set up one in Payra, while Summit Group will establish another in Moheshkhali.
The land-based terminal, with a production capacity of 1,000mmcft, will be situated in Matarbari.
The FSRU in Cox's Bazar is anticipated to supply a minimum of 600 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) of gas, extendable to 800 mmcfd.
This facility will be approximately five kilometers off Moheshkhali island in the deep seas of the Bay of Bengal.
In June 2023, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs provisionally approved a proposal to award Summit
Oil and Shipping Company Ltd the task of setting up the third floating LNG terminal in Moheshkhali, Cox's Bazar, with a capacity of 600mmcft LNG per day.
The LNG terminals are being established based on unsolicited offers from both local and foreign companies.
Petrobangla has plans to further increase gas regasification capacity by setting up additional LNG terminals at Payra and Matarbari.
Currently, there are two FSRUs (LNG terminals) in Bangladesh-one operated by Excelerate Energy in Moheshkhali and another by the Summit Group in the same area.
With the operation of three new terminals and the expansion of existing ones, the country's LNG production is projected to rise to 3,200mmcft per day.