Govt shortlists four int’l cos for Matarbari LNG terminal
Power Cell has short-listed four international firms to build an onshore LNG (liquefied natural gas) terminal under an equity partnership of developer, financier and a state-owned entity of Bangladesh, said officials.
The proposed terminal having a capacity of 3.5 million tonnes per year would be built at Matarbari of Moheshkhali Island in the Bay of Bengal, director general of Power Cell Mohammad Hossain told the FE Monday.
The short-listed firms have been selected from among 15 contenders that initially submitted expression of interests (EoIs), he said.
The short-listed firms are Japan’s Mitsui & Co. Ltd, China’s consortium of China Huanqiu Contracting and Engineering Corporation & Yifeng Industrial Gas Co Ltd, India’s Petronet and Royal Dutch’s Shell EP International Ltd.
The selected bidder would have 60 per cent stake in the proposed project and implement it as an engineering, procurement and construction contractor.
It would be responsible for the design and commissioning of the terminal, which would have receiving, offloading, storage and re-gasification facilities.
Of the remaining 40 per cent stake, International Finance Corporation’s IFC Infra Ventures fund would have 20 per cent and state-owned Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) would have 20 per cent, Mr Hossain said.
Re-gasified LNG from the terminal would be sold on a long term, take-or-pay basis to a state-owned entity, which will have back-to-back gas sales agreements with power plant owners or operators and other customers.
“We are now evaluating financial, technical and environmental aspects of the LNG import terminal project by three separate consultants,” he said.
Request for proposal (RfP) documents would be issued to the short-listed firms on completion of the studies, which would be incorporated in the RfP document, he added.
“We are expecting to complete construction of the LNG terminal by 2021,” he added.
Power Cell had issued an initial tender in mid-April of 2014, seeking proposals from international companies to build the onshore LNG import terminal on build, own and operate (BOO) basis.
Separately, Bangladesh is currently accepting bids for the construction of an onshore LNG receiving terminal with a capacity of 7.5 million tonnes per year near Moheshkhali island or Kutubdia or Payra.
State-owned Petrobangla’s wholly owned subsidiary Rupantorito Prakritik Gas Company Ltd (RPGCL) floated the international tender on March 14, seeking proposals from the bidders. The bid submission deadline is June 15.
Petrobangla earlier inked a memorandum of understanding, or MoU, with India’s Petronet on December 29, 2016 to build another onshore LNG import facility at Kutubdia island, without issuing any tender.
Bangladesh expects to start LNG imports from early 2018 through the
country’s first floating storage and re-gasification unit (FSRU), which is being developed by US-based Excelerate near Moheshkhali Island in the Bay of Bengal.
The FSRU — the first of several LNG import facilities planned – would have re-gasification capacity of 500 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) and 138,000 cubic metre (cm) of LNG storage capacity.
Bangladesh is now reeling under acute natural gas shortage with daily average output of around 2,700 mmcfd against the demand for over 3,300 mmcfd, according to Petrobangla.
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