LNG

Excelerate Energy, the leading US provider of floating storage and regasification units (FSRUs) and an LNG trader with increased demand from Europe and Asia, has now completed two long-term LNG supply accords focused on delivering more cargoes to Bangladesh and to integrate its business in the South Asian nation.

Excelerate has just signed a 15-year Sales and Purchase Agreement (SPA) with QatarEnergy after signing a similar SPA in late 2023 with Bangladesh’s national energy company PetroBangla as the customer this time.

Excelerate said that under the QatarEnergy deal the Texas-based company would purchase up to 1 million tonnes per annum of LNG from Qatar on a delivered ex-ship basis in Bangladesh and beginning in January 2026.

The US company will purchase 850,000 tonnes per annum in 2026 and 2027 and 1.0 MTPA from 2028 to 2040.

Qatar deal

“This inaugural long-term supply agreement with the world’s largest LNG supplier marks a new milestone in our collaboration with QatarEnergy,” said Steven Kobos, President and Chief Executive of Excelerate.

“Qatar delivers approximately 10 percent of its current annual LNG production through Excelerate FSRUs and we are pleased to unlock further new demand in the markets where we operate,” Kobos explained.

“This agreement highlights our ability to secure critical and affordable LNG volumes for our customers with increasing natural gas demand, while driving stable, long-term economic uplift on our existing infrastructure,” he stated.

QatarEnergy President and CEO Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi said he was pleased to sign the Excelerate agreement focused on Bangladesh.

“This new agreement will further strengthen our relationship with Excelerate while also supporting the energy requirements of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh and its stride towards greater economic development,” added Al-Kaabi.

PetroBangla agreement

Excelerate in the third-quarter of 2023 had signed a long-term SPA contract with PetroBangla.

Under that deal the Bangladeshi company has agreed to purchase between 850,000 tonnes and 1.0 MTPA LNG from Excelerate for that 15-year term.

Excelerate first opened the Bangladesh market to LNG in 2018 with the development of its integrated Moheshkhali LNG FSRU terminal.

In the years since, the company deployed a second FSRU terminal to the Bay of Bengal and has utilised its infrastructure position to win spot LNG cargos sales into Bangladesh.

Excelerate's two FSRUs in Bangladesh deliver around 25 percent of the country’s natural gas supply.

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.