March 2019, Vol. 246, No. 3

Projects

Bangladesh Imports First Oman LNG after Pipeline Completed

Bangladesh Imports First Oman LNG after Pipeline Completed  

Bangladesh has imported its first LNG cargo from Oman Trading International, its long-term supplier of the super-chilled fuel, after construction at a domestic pipeline was completed.  

The LNG tanker Cape Ann, with a capacity of 135,000 cubic meters, arrived at the floating storage regasification unit (FSRU) Excellence, offshore Bangladesh’s Moheshkhali island, on Jan. 29 after loading LNG from Nigeria earlier this month, according to an official from state-owned energy company Petrobangla and data from Refinitiv Eikon.  

Bangladesh’s 1 mtpa deal with Oman had been expected to start later this year after a second FSRU started operations. The country also has an ongoing 2.5 mtpa deal with Qatar’s RasGas.  

“We had been looking for one more cargo after a pipeline was ready. We started discussions with Qatar and Oman Trading, but Qatar was unable to supply more for now while Oman Trading came forward to start supplying LNG,” said the official from Petrobangla.  

He added the Excellence, with a regasification capacity of 500 MMcf/d, is now able to run at full capacity after construction of a 19-mile (30-km) gas transmission pipeline in southern Bangladesh was completed in late November. 

Bangladesh has a 10-year LNG import deal with Oman Trading International. That LNG will be priced at 11.9% of the three-month average price of Brent crude oil plus a constant price of 40 cents per MMBtu.