Bangladesh awards LNG supply contract to Gunvor
Bangladesh has awarded its latest spot LNG tender for June 22-23 delivery at the Moheshkhali floating, storage and regasification unit at $24.75/MMBtu, after awarding two previous spot tenders for June for over $25/MMBtu.
The spot tender was awarded to Gunvor Singapore Pte Ltd. for a 138,000 cu m cargo, reports S&P Global citing an official of state-owned Rupantarita Prakritik Gas Company Ltd, or RPGCL, said.
RPGCL, the fully owned subsidiary of national oil and gas company Petrobangla, currently invites bids from only 16 listed suppliers to purchase LNG from the spot market. With the Gunvor cargo, Bangladesh has awarded three spot LNG cargoes for June delivery.
The previous two spot LNG tenders were awarded to Vitol Asia Pte Ltd. Singapore at $26.4/MMBtu and $25.75/MMBtu.
Bangladesh's overall natural gas supply now hovers around 3.10 Bcf/d with re-gasified LNG at around 800,000 Mcf/d, against total demand of over 4.10 Bcf/d, according to Petrobangla.
In addition to spot LNG, the country imports five to six cargoes every month from two long term LNG suppliers, Qatargas and Oman Trading International, or OQ, which currently cost around $15/MMBtu.
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Bangladesh has plans to import around 18 LNG cargoes from the spot market in the July-December period, compared to 12 spot LNG cargoes in the first six months of the year, the report added.
RPGCL, which handles Bangladesh's LNG imports, plans to invite bids from each of its 16 designated suppliers, but because not all suppliers bid for its tenders, it has plans to widen the list of suppliers eligible to bid for its tenders. It has invited expressions of interest, or EOIs, for more suppliers with a June 12 deadline.
Petrobangla started importing LNG under long-term contracts in September 2018, and imported its first spot LNG cargo in September 2020. After its first spot cargo, Bangladesh did not import spot LNG regularly until February 2022 due to high prices in summer and lower demand in winter seasons.
But from February 2022, Bangladesh had to resort to the spot market due to soaring demand. The spot LNG is blended with locally produced gas, which is sulfur free and sweet gas, before it is delivered to end-users.