New floating LNG terminal planned at Maheshkhali as five LNG cargoes are lined up to boost gas supply
The government has taken two steps at once to increase the country's gas supply. Alongside importing five cargoes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Oman and Malaysia in 2027, a move has been made to set up a new floating LNG terminal at Maheshkhali in Cox's Bazar.
The proposals from the Energy and Mineral Resources Division were approved on Thursday (12 November) at a meeting of the cabinet committee on government purchase, chaired by Finance Minister Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury.
Under the meeting's decisions, three LNG cargoes will be imported in 2027 from Oman's OQ Trading Limited (OQT) and two cargoes from Malaysia's Pentitude Energy Sdn Bhd.
The three cargoes from Oman's OQ Trading will be imported under Bangladesh's existing long-term and short-term agreements with that country. The committee recommended approving the signing of three separate side-letter agreements for this, and the LNG will be imported on a government-to-government (G2G) basis.
Approval has also been recommended for buying two LNG cargoes from Malaysia's Pentitude Energy. The price per million British thermal units (MMBTU) has been set at 0.18 dollars below the Japan-Korea Marker (JKM) price, with scope to reduce or increase the number of cargoes by mutual agreement.
Alongside LNG imports, the government also plans to expand storage and regasification capacity. A proposal has been recommended for approval to set up a new floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) at Kutubjom in Maheshkhali, Cox's Bazar.
China's China National Energy Engineering and Construction Company Limited (CNEE) has proposed the project under the G2G method. Under its proposal, the project will cost about Tk 12,324 crore over a 15-year term and about Tk 13,161 crore over a 20-year term.
Through an FSRU, or floating terminal, LNG brought in by ship is stored and then converted back into gas and supplied to the national grid through pipelines. Terminal capacity is therefore as important to the country's gas supply system as the LNG imports themselves.
Both the LNG imports from Oman and Malaysia and the new terminal at Maheshkhali are part of the plan to expand the capacity of the country's import-dependent gas supply system.
