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Bangladesh’s state-run Rupantarita Prakritik Gas Company Ltd (RPGCL) intends to buy three spot liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargoes by mid-April to meet mounting demand during summer.
RPGCL has already floated tenders to purchase the spot LNG cargoes for the April 01-02, April 12-13 and April 14-15 delivery windows, a senior RPGCL official told The Financial Express on Saturday.
RPGCL might float more tenders to buy spot LNG cargoes to meet the scorching summer demand in April, which is considered the hottest month of summer in Bangladesh, said the official.
The country’s energy demand is expected to go up from early April and in subsequent months with the rise of the mercury, he said.
Bangladesh bought four spot LNG cargoes for March delivery windows.
The bid winners will deliver the LNG cargoes to Moheshkhali island in the Bay of Bengal, with options to discharge the cargo at either of the country’s two floating storage re-gasification units (FSRUs) located on Moheshkhali island.
RPGCL, a wholly owned subsidiary of state-run Bangladesh Oil, Gas, and Mineral Corporation, or Petrobangla, looks into LNG trading in Bangladesh.
The volume of each spot LNG cargo will be around 3.36 million MMBtu.
Bangladesh previously awarded its latest spot LNG cargo tender to Excelerate Energy LP for the March 25-26 delivery window at US$14.30 per million British Thermal unit (MMBtu).
Bangladesh currently imports LNG from Qatar Energy and OQ Trading international under long-term deals and also purchases LNG also from spot market to regasify LNG in its two operational FSRUs, which have a total capacity of 1.10 billion cubic feet per day (Bcfd).
The country has been reeling under an acute energy crisis as its natural gas output continues to deplete.
Bangladesh has been rationing gas supply to industries, power plants and other gas-guzzling industries to cope with mounting demand.
The country’s overall natural gas supply is currently hovering around 2,888 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd), including 991 mmcfd of regasified LNG, against a demand of over 4,000 mmcfd, according to official data of Petrobangla as of March 14.
Azizjst@yahoo.com