International
Gas supply growth for Bangladesh with first LNG STS
More natural gas will be available to Bangladesh’s power grid after the floating storage and regasification unit Summit LNG completed its first ship-to-ship transfer of LNG 6 km off Moheshkhali in Bay of Bengal.
The country’s second FSRU, Summit LNG, received 159,000 m3 of LNG from Oman Trading International. The ship-to-ship (STS) transfer was carried out using flexible transfer hoses from Teekay Shipping’s 173,000-m3 LNG carrier Creole Spirit, which transported the cargo from Bethioua, Algeria.
Rupantarita Prakritik Gas Co Ltd, on behalf of Bangladesh’s state-run oil company Petrobangla, certified this transfer. The next STS transfer is due in early June.
In late April, the FSRU successfully commissioned the LNG terminal, owned by Summit LNG Terminal Co Ltd. The terminal has a send-out capacity of 500M ft3 per day (MMscf/d) of natural gas.
In August 2017, Summit entered into a 15-year charter agreement with US-based Excelerate Energy for the FSRU Summit LNG.
Besides providing the FSRU, Excelerate acted as the owner’s engineer for the fixed infrastructure components of the terminal, which included a subsea plug, mooring system and subsea pipeline.
“The successful completion of the Summit LNG Terminal represents a significant positive change to Bangladesh’s energy supply – helping bolster local industry while benefiting the citizens of the country,” said Excelerate managing director Steven Kobos.
Summit Group founder chairman Muhammed Aziz Khan remarked, “Summit is pleased to provide much-needed regasified liquified natural gas to Bangladesh’s national gas grid. With this additional 500 MMscf/d to the current 3,200 MMscf/d, Bangladesh will be able to provide necessary primary energy to Bangladesh. This natural gas will provide huge impetus to the growth and development of Bangladesh.”
In August 2018, Excelerate commissioned its Moheshkhali Floating LNG (MLNG) terminal – Bangladesh’s first LNG import facility. Since beginning operations, MLNG has successfully imported 27 cargoes of LNG and delivered in excess of 70M btus of natural gas into the Bangladeshi market, which represents an increase in gas supply of over 10% during this period.