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State-run Rupantarita Prakritik Gas Company Ltd (RPGCL) has re-issued tenders to purchase three spot liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargoes for March 05-06 and March 10-11 delivery windows.
State-run Petrobangla will buy one LNG cargo for March 05-06 and two LNG cargoes for March 10-11 delivery windows, a senior RPGCL official said.
The RPGCL initially floated these tenders separately over the past couple of weeks and cancelled them due to inadequate number of bidders for one and higher price quotes exceeding US$15.5 per million British thermal units for the remaining, the official said.
The government has planned to buy a total of four spot LNG cargoes for March to meet the mounting energy demand especially during the month of Ramadan. The Islamic month of Ramadan is set to begin on March 1 or 2, subject to moon sighting.
Energy demand will go up during Ramadan and subsequent months to meet growing demand for irrigation and summer. The bidders 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 the island.
The RPGCL, a wholly owned subsidiary of state-run Bangladesh Oil, Gas, and Mineral Corporation, or Petrobangla, oversees LNG trades in Bangladesh.
The volume of each of the spot LNG cargo will be around 3.36 million MMBtu. Bangladesh previously awarded its latest spot LNG cargo tender to Vitol Asia Pte Ltd for February 13-14 delivery window at US$13.82 per MMBtu, the RPGCL official said.
Apart from spot LNG cargoes, Bangladesh has been importing LNG from its two existing long-term LNG suppliers - Qatargas and OQ Trading International for regasification in its two operational FSRUs.
Officials said Bangladesh has planned to import increased volume of LNG from spot market as part of its previous plan to ramp up LNG imports to feed mounting demands from industries, power plants and other gas-guzzling consumers as domestic natural gas output is on the wane.
A senior Petrobangla official said Petrobangla has planned to import a total of 115 LNG cargoes -- 59 from spot market and 56 from long-term suppliers, which marks a 33.72 per cent increase compared to that of the previous year.
Last year, the country imported a total of 86 LNG cargoes -- 56 from long-term suppliers and 30 from spot market, the official added.
The country has been importing the same number of LNG cargoes-56 from its two existing long-term LNG suppliers over the past three years. Of the total long-term LNG cargoes for 2025 -- Qatargas will supply 40 LNG cargoes and OQ Trading will supply 16 LNG cargoes. The regular size of an LNG cargo is 138,000 cubic metres.
Considering the current market price, Bangladesh has to pay US$45-50 million to import one spot LNG cargo from the international market.
Country's overall natural gas output is currently hovering around 2,686 mmcfd, of which around 781 mmcfd is re-gasified LNG, according to official Petrobangla's data as of February 13.