The vessel ‘Summit LNG’ with Floating Storage and Regasification Unit (FSRU) of Summit has arrived in the Bay of Bengal. As a result more 500 million cubic feet (mmcfd) gas will be added to national grid every day, which will help reduce gas crises in the country, officials said. Bangladesh’s second liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal is set to go into operation later this month. The floating storage and re-gasification unit (FSRU) is being constructed jointly by Summit Corp, a subsidiary of Singapore-based Summit Power International, and its partner Mitsubishi Corp.
A Summit’s official said that in the first phase, 1 lakh 38 thousand cubic feet of gas was brought. If the weather is favourable and assistance comes from Petrobangla, LNG can be supplied to the national grid within seven days. According to Summit Power, it is now moored 6 kilometers off the island of Moheshkhali in Cox’s Bazar.
Summit has time chartered to purchase this vessel from USA’s Excerelate Energy for 15 years and it has now carried LNG (Liquified Natural Gas) from Qatar. The FSRU will send out Regasified Liquified Natural Gas (RLNG) via subsea pipeline connected to the national grid. Process has already begun to connect Floating Storage Regasification Unit, FSRU, through pipelines under the sea.
On the occasion the Founder Chairman of Summit Group Muhammed Aziz Khan remarked, “Summit is working towards achieving power and energy sufficiency in Bangladesh under the bold leadership of the government. We are pioneering adaptation of cutting-edge technology for most economical, efficient and sustainable energy solutions to enable graduation to a developed country. Summit is promised bound to provide least cost environment-friendly solutions. ”
However, the construction work of a pipeline is also going on by state-owned Gas Transmission Company Limited (GTCL), which will carry regasified gas from the coastal city of Chattogram, near where the FSRU will be anchored, to the capital Dhaka. GTCL Managing Director Engineer Ali Mohammad Al-Mamun told Bangladesh Post, “The work is going on in full swing. Till now 50 percent work has been completed. We hope we can complete all the connecting pipelines by May.”
“Currently we are trying to connect with an existing pipeline to carry the Summits RLNG. We expect it will be completed this month,” he added. Gas Transmission Company, GTCL official said 100 to 150 million cubic feet of gas will be added to the national grid at the end of the current month.
The supply will increase day by day. In 2017, Summit LNG received a concession from Petrobangla, Bangladesh’s state-owned company, to develop a floating LNG terminal comprising a storage and regasification unit connected to shore by a six-kilometre subsea pipeline, on a build own operate transfer basis at Maheshkhali Island in Cox’s Bazar district to supply approximately 500mmcfd of natural gas to the national grid.
Bangladesh started the LNG supply commercially from Exceleretae’s FSRU on August 18, around four months after the entry of the country’s first FSRU loaded with LNG. The Excellence, carrying 136,000 cubic metres of lean LNG from Qatar, reached Maheshkhali terminal on April 24. It was due to start delivering LNG from May 07.
But technical issues and rough seas during the June-August south-western monsoon kept it stranded off the south coast of Chittagong for more than three months. Excelerate Energy docked and connected the FSRU to the subsea pipeline network on August 05 and commenced injecting the gas on August 12.
Against the backdrop of ever-increasing gas demand, the government decided to import LNG in 2010 to meet the country’s dire energy deficit. After the start of LNG import, the government decided to reopen gas connections of the compressed industrial factories. As a result, the applications for gas connection to gas distribution companies are increasing.
On the other hand, the government has decided to constructed land-based Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) terminal with a capacity of 1,000 million cubic feet per day in Maheshkhali. An expression of interest (EoI) for construction of LNG regasification terminal will be invited this month, which is expected to be completed by 2023, said a government senior official.
Bangladesh has also signed a deal with Oman to buy LNG. Besides, the government has decided to buy from another 26 companies on the basis of spot market pricing. Bangladesh’s LNG imports are expected to hit 10 million mt/year by 2023.
Over half a dozen local and international companies have been expressing interest to set up LNG-based power plants in the country having combined capacity to generate 13,083MW electricity under unsolicited deals, the official confirmed.
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