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The government is in talks with two Indian LNG firms- IOCL and H-Energy -to get supplies of re-gasified LNG to run gas-guzzling industries in the Khulna region.
Senior officials of the energy and mineral resources division (EMRD) under the ministry of power, energy and mineral resources (MPEMR) visited last week the IOCL's LNG terminal facility before signing a deal, said a senior ministry official.
State-owned North-West Power Generation Company Ltd (NWPGCL) has opened talks with H-Energy to import re-gasified LNG for running an 800-megawatt (MW) combined cycle power plant at Rupsha in the southern Khulna region.
Officials said importing this type of LNG from India would help diversify the country's energy sources, which are crucial to ensuring the country's future energy security.
Currently state-run Petrobangla has been importing lean LNG from Qatar's RasGas and Oman's Oman Trading International (OTI) and re-gasifying the LNG in the floating terminal on the Moheshkhali Island in the Bay of Bengal, which is now operational.
Petrobangla has also initiated deals with a total of 15 global suppliers to import LNG from the spot market at a competitive price.
The IOCL has already sent a draft of re-gasified LNG sales and purchase agreement (SPA) to the division.
"We are scruitinising the draft of the IOCL's sales agreement," said a senior division official.
State-run Indian Oil Corporation, also known as IndianOil, has proposed supplying around 200 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) of re-gasified LNG.
The H-Energy has planned to supply around 125 mmcfd of re-gasified LNG, which could be increased to 500 mmcfd and 1.0 billion cubic feet per day (Bcfd) in future.
The potentially bulk consumer of the Khulna region - the North-West's 800 MW power plant-would require around 130 mmcfd of re-gasified LNG to generate electricity.
The remaining gas could be supplied to the natural gas grid for consumption by other gas-guzzling consumers including industries and power plants.
Importing re-gasified LNG through the pipeline would be hassle free, said a senior Petrobangla official.
Unlike supplies from the country's maiden FSRU (floating, storage and re-gasification unit) importing it from India would be uninterrupted, he added.
Several multilateral lenders have agreed to provide a record US$800 million in loans to implement the power plant.
Of the total lending, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) will provide $600 million and the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) would offer $200 million for the plant.
The power plant would have two gas-fired units, each having 400 MW capacity to run on imported re-gasified LNG.
Bangladesh would provide the remaining $150 million for its implementation.
The North-West has already invited bids from potential firms to build the re-gasified imported LNG-based combined cycle power plant.