Bangladesh secures additional LNG cargoes from Oman after new Qatar deal and amid plans for third FSRU
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.
