Bangladesh LNG supply gets delayed, starts by May 26

The supply of liquefied natural gas (LNG) through pipeline is delayed for a month although a specialised vessel of Excelerate Energy reached Bangladesh with the first shipment of LNG from Qatar two days back.

LNG supply through the national grid will start on May 25 or 26, the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources said in a statement citing State Minister Nasrul Hamid on Thursday.

The specialised vessel ‘Excellence’ has anchored near Moheshkhali, the site for Bangladesh’s first LNG import terminal, on April 24 carrying 133,000 cubic metres of LNG. The vessel is known as a floating storage regasification unit or FSRU.

FSRU is a special type of ship used as a floating terminal for storing and degasifying the LNG and supplying it on shore.

Earlier the Prime Minister’s Energy Adviser Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury said they hoped to begin LNG supply through pipeline from the first LNG terminal in the country by the first week of May.

However, during a seminar on Wednesday, State Minister Nasrul Hamid said the LNG supply through pipeline will begin on May 25 or 26 to industrial units.

Petrobangla Chairman Abul Mansur Md Faizullah, Chevron Bangladesh President Kevin Lyon and Swiss Contract Bangladesh Country Director Anirban Bhowmik were present on the occasion.

Earlier, Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury said initially the LNG will be supplied to Anwara in Chottogram and later to the rest of the country through the national grid.

Officials of Gas Transmission Company Limited or GTCL said the new 91-kilometre pipeline from Moheshkhali to Anwara has been successfully installed and tested.

However, LNG supply to the national grid could not start as the installation of 30-kilometre pipeline from Anwara to Sitakunda has not been completed yet.

“Eighty per cent installation of the pipeline from Anwara to Sitakunda has been done and we hope to complete the rest soon if weather permits,” said GTCL Managing Director Ali Md Al Mamun.

The FSRU in Bangladesh, according to bdnews24, has the capacity to hold 138,000 cubic metres and distribute up to 500 million cubic feet per day, officials said.

In line with the deal with Excelerate Energy, Bangladesh will have to pay $0.49 per 1,000 cubic feet of gas to the firm in terminal installation costs and other expenses.

Petrobangla will get the ownership of the terminal, including the FSRU, after 15 years.