The Prime Minister’s Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Adviser Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury told bdnews24.com the FSRU anchored near Moheshkhali Floating LNG, Bangladesh’s first LNG import terminal, around 2pm on Tuesday.
Chowdhury said the supply of gas through pipeline from the terminal would start in the first week of May after the other jobs were done.
FSRU is a special type of ship used for storing and degasifying the LNG and supplying it on shore.
The FSRU in Bangladesh has the capacity to hold 138,000 cubic metres and distribute up to 500 million cubic feet per day, officials said.
The ships carrying LNG to Bangladesh will transfer the consignments to this FSRU, which will supply it to the terminal after regasification.
The state-owned oil, gas and mineral resources company Petrobangla signed a terminal-use agreement with Excelerate Energy Bangladesh Limited to set up the country’s first LNG terminal on Mar 31, 2016.
Singapore-based Astra Oil and Excelerate Energy Consortium are functioning as Excelerate Energy Bangladesh for the project.
Md Quamruzzaman, the managing director of Petrobangla subsidiary Rupantarita Prakritik Gas Company, told bdnews24.com that the Excelerate Energy FSRU carried the LNG to Bangladesh from Qatar.Once the supply from FSRU through the Moheshkhali terminal starts in the first week of May, it will be added to the national grid via Chattogram’s Anwara.
According to PM’s Adviser Chowdhury, Chattogram will get 300 to 350 million cubic feet gas daily from the imported LNG. The remainder will be sent to Dhaka.
“This will meet the demand in Chattogram and other areas. We will also be able to give new connections,” he said.
According to Petrobangla, on Monday 2,577mcf gas was supplied against a demand of around 3,700mcf.
The government has to limit the supply despite growing demand at industries and households due to lack of extraction from the gas fields.
The Awami League initiated the LNG terminal project in Moheshkhali when it returned to power in 2009. It could not implement the project due to different complexities in the first term.
After the party formed the government for the second consecutive term in 2014, it put it among the priority projects.
The work to set up several floating and land-based LNG terminals in Moheshkhali, Khulna and Patuakhali’s Payra is under way.
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.
Source: Bdnews24.