Govt to import 4 cargoes of LNG at a time

The government yesterday approved the procurement of four cargoes of LNG from the international spot market to increase gas supply during the summer.

The purchase was okayed at a meeting of the cabinet committee on government purchase.

The cost of the four shipments will be around Tk 1,640 crore.

The first shipment will be supplied by the US-based Excelerate Energy at a cost of $9.79 per metric million British Thermal Unit (MMBtu) while the second one will be supplied by Switzerland-based Gunvor at a cost of $9.37 per MMBtu.

The other two shipments will be imported from Singapore-based Vitol-Asia, costing $9.47, and $9.24 per MMBtu respectively.

The government will get the gas at a cheaper rate than the previous shipments.

The country has been facing an acute gas crisis since October last year when a Floating Storage and Regasification Unit (FSRU) underwent maintenance work.

Since January, the government has imported seven cargoes of LNG — each has the capacity of 33.60 lakh MMBtu.

After the Russia-Ukraine war broke out, the government was able to purchase an LNG cargo for less than $10 per MMBtu in February this year.

Country’s two FSRUs have the capacity to supply around 1,000 million cubic feet of gas a day (mmcfd) but they were supplying around 850 mmcfd before October last year. As one FSRU went for maintenance work, the gas supply has come down to 500 mmcfd.

Besides, the local gas production also dropped. The largest supplier — Bibiyana gas field — has the capacity to generate around 1,200mmcfd gas, but it can now produce around 1,000 to 1,050mmcfd.

Also at yesterday’s purchase meeting, three solar power plants were approved. The government will buy electricity from the plants for 20 years.

Rupsha plant in Khulna will be constructed  by a joint venture of Energon  Renewables (BD) Ltd and PWR; Rajnagar plant in Moulvibazar by a consortium of Thien vu  Viet Nam New Energy Joint Stock Company and DreamFinder Ltd; and  Goalanda plant in Rajbari will be built by another consortium of China Datang Overseas Investment  Co Ltd and Engreen Engineering Ltd.

Each plant will be able to generate 100 megawatts of electricity and its unit price (kilowatt-hour) will be $0.0988.