Tokyo Gas to act as consultant of LNG terminal at Matarbari

State-run Petrobangla has initiated a deal with Japanese firm Tokyo Gas Co. Ltd to act as the consultant for smooth construction of the country's maiden land-based LNG import terminal at Matarbari.

The deal is now being vetted by the Ministry of Law, a senior Petrobangla official said on Monday.

The final deal will be inked after vetting and approval from the cabinet committee on government purchase, he said.

If awarded the job finally, Tokyo Gas will carry out a feasibility study and prepare the documents for selecting the final bidder to build the land-based LNG terminal.

It will also help the government evaluate bids and implement the project work.

Officials said the government is working to build a 7.5 million tonne per year, or MTPA, capacity land-based LNG terminal doubling the country's overall LNG re-gasification capacity to 15 MTPA.

Currently two 3.75 million tonne per year capacity LNG import terminals having  floating, storage, re-gasification units (FSRUs) are in operation at Moheshkhali and re-gasifying around 550 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd), almost half their total capacity to re-gasify 1,000 mmcfd.

Twelve global firms and their joint venture are now vying for bagging the contract to build the country's first land-based LNG terminal, having the capacity to handle 7.5 million tonne per year (Mtpa) of LNG at Matarbari.

Of the firms, four are from Japan, two from Bangladesh, and one each from the Netherlands, France, Qatar, Hong Kong, Korea and India.

The Japanese firms that submitted the EOSs are - Mitsui & Co Ltd; Japan Investment Corporation for Matarbari Regas Terminal, a joint venture of Inpex Corporation, Sojitj Corporation, Kyushu Electric Power Co and local Unique Hotel and Resorts Ltd; joint venture of Marubeni Corporation and Osaka Gas Co Ltd; and joint venture of Sumitomo Corporation and Chungko Electric Power Co. Inc.

Joint venture of local Summit Corporation Ltd, Mitsubishi Corporation, and Jera Co Inc and joint venture of United Enterprises & Co Ltd, Posco International Corp and Korea Gas Corporation are the Bangladeshi firms eyeing to bag the project.

Shell Gas and Power Development of the Netherlands, joint venture of Total Gas Electric Holdings and Total Gas and Power Business Service of France, joint venture of Qatar Petroleum LNG Services and Exxon Mobil of Qatar, Samsung C&T Corporation of Korea, joint venture of Poly-GCL Petroleum Group Holding Ltd and H Sterling Group PTE Ltd of Hong Kong also submitted EOIs.

The Energy and Mineral Resources Division (EMRD) under the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources (MPEMR) is scrutinising the EOIs, or expression of interests, submitted by the firms to short-list them.

The short-listed firms would be requested to submit request for proposals (RfPs) to implement the project.

The proposed land-based terminal has been planned to be built by the selected sponsor on build, own, operate and transfer (BOOT) basis at Matarbari in Cox's Bazar district near the Bay of Bengal.

The project company would own, operate and maintain it for 20 years.

Bangladesh started regular imports of LNG from Qatar's then RasGas, which is now renamed Qatargas from September 9, 2018.

Apart from Qatargas, Oman Trading International is also supplying LNG in the country under long-term deals.

Currently, the country's overall natural gas production is around 3100 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd), including the supply of re-gasified LNG (liquefied natural gas) to the tune of around 550 mmcfd, against the demand for around 4,000 mmcfd.