LNG

Petrobangla is scrambling for spot LNG after QatarEnergy extended its force majeure until July 16, although the Bangladeshi state company keeps negotiating to receive at least 80% of its contracted LNG cargoes from Qatar.

Bangladesh and Pakistan are fast-tracking plans to expand nuclear power capacity as disruptions to contracted Qatari LNG deliveries and price spikes expose the risk of heavy reliance on imported gas.

Southeast Asian countries with historically low gas storage levels have resorted to panic buying of spot LNG cargoes. Analysts warn a “vicious feedback loop” could weaken domestic purchasing power and further exacerbate energy price inflation.

Across Southeast Asia, burning coal for power generation is rising faster than anywhere in the world – except for Bangladesh which is on course to overtake Pakistan as an LNG importer by 2035. The pivot to coal threatens to undermine Just Energy Transition Partnerships (JETPs) in Indonesia and Vietnam, not least because clean energy finance is hard to come by.

Southeast Asia’s LNG imports are set to soar from 35 bcm today to 135 bcm by 2035, primarily driven by Pakistan and Bangladesh, the International Energy Agency (IEA) forecasts. With a wave of new LNG export capacity coming to market, global gas prices are bound to ease substantially, empowering countries like Bangladesh to secure long-term LNG contracts at more competitive rates.

Bangladesh’s state-run gas company RPGCL has issued a tender to buy two further spot LNG cargoes by mid-August. Bid submission deadline is on July 7.

Bangladesh’s state-owned Rupantarita Prakritik Gas Company Ltd (RPGCL) has launched a series of tenders to buy two spot LNG cargoes for delivery on July 15-16 and July 17-18, a company official told local news. Each spot cargo is understood to carry about 3.36 mmBtu of LNG for delivery at Moheshkhali Island FSRU in the Bay of Bengal.

Bangladesh state energy company PetroBangla said the nation has reached agreement with the Sultanate of Oman for the supply of additional LNG cargoes from the Arabian Peninsula.

Under the latest Sale and Purchase Agreement (SPA) Oman will supply 250,000 tonnes per annum of shipments as early as 2025 and up to 1.5 million tonnes per annum from 2026.

A statement said the new agreement was signed by PetroBangla Chairman Zanendra Nath Sarkar.

Bangladesh has also recently renewed a long-term LNG supply deal with QatarEnergy for 1.8 MTPA for 15 years and starting in 2026.

The new volumes from Qatar will come from the North Field expansion projects that will take QatarEnergy’s output at Ras Laffan to 126 MTPA from the current 77 MTPA.

At present, Bangladesh has a 15-year import deal with Qatar for 2.5 MTPA of LNG.

FSRU terminals

Bangladesh has two floating LNG import terminals in the form of floating storage and regasification units (FSRUs) chartered from the US terminal specialists Excelerate Energy.

One FSRU is chartered by national oil and gas company PetroBangla and has been located offshore Moheshkhali Island in the Bay of Bengal since 2018.

The second is chartered by Summit Power International of Singapore and has been stationed since 2019 off the port of Cox’s Bazaar.

Summit Power has also said it was hoping to secure a charter on a second FSRU for 2026, with capacity to handle 4 MTPA.

Bangladesh also operates more than 20 natural gas fields and produces around 24 billion cubic metres per annum of domestic gas, though has to import at least 7 Bcm of LNG per annum to make up at least some of the shortfall.

Bangladesh depends on imported natural gas for power generation as the energy mix is made up of a high proportion of gas-fired power plants, about 60 percent of the total, while the balance comes mostly from coal.

Russian natural gas pipeline giant Gazprom, owner of the Sakhalin LNG export plant in the Russian Far East, has sent a delegation to meet leaders in Bangladesh to discuss energy cooperation in exploration and production and LNG.

Saudi Aramco, the world’s largest oil company that recently listed its shares and with plans to be a supplier and trader of liquefied natural gas, has issued an expression of interest to charter up to 12 LNG carriers.