LNG import: Bangladesh ranks 15th with 2.5% annual growth

Bangladesh ranked 15th globally among the nations that increased their Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) imports the most in 2020, according to the annual report published by GIIGNL.

The country ranked 7th with an increase of 3.4 MT in 2019.

Bangladesh experienced an annual growth of 2.5% with an increase of 0.1MT in its LNG imports last year, said GIIGNL (International Group of LNG Importers), a non-profit organisation that promotes the development of LNG activities worldwide, in its latest report.

According to the report published on 27 April, Bangladesh is the 8th largest importer of LNG in Asia. India and Pakistan are ahead of Bangladesh in terms of LNG imports in the region.

Bangladesh imported a total of 4.18 million tonnes of LNG last year which was 4.07 million tonnes in 2019. India and Pakistan respectively imported 26.63 & 7.42 million tonnes of LNG last year.

Bangladesh accounts for 1.2% of the global share of LNG imports in 2020, an increase of 0.1% from 2019. The country imported LNG from Algeria, Equatorial Guinea, and Nigeria. The highest volume of LNG import came from Nigeria—0.55 million tonnes.

Currently, Bangladesh has two LNG import terminals named Moheshkhali and Summit LNG. Each of the terminals has a regasification capacity of 3.8 MPTA. An additional LNG terminal with 7.5 MPTA regasification capacity is being built at Matabari which is expected to come online by the end of 2024.

Global Scenario

According to the GIIGNL report, China saw the most increase in LNG imports last year. The country topped the list with a 7.2 million ton increase in its LNG imports with an 11.7% annual growth in 2020. India and Turkey followed China with an increase of 2.6 and 1.3 million tons respectively.

Meanwhile, Japan remains the leading importer of LNG worldwide but it faced a 2.4 MT fall in its imports, pushing it out of the top 20 countries in the latest ranking.

"This happened notably due to lower LNG imports during the second quarter of 2020 following the lockdown measures which were implemented within the country and their downward impact on electricity consumption", the report said.

In the meantime, Turkey saw the most significant increase at 14.4%, while France and Belgium experienced the largest decline in LNG imports last year.

The overall LNG import volume was 356.1 MT in 2020 with an annual growth of 0.4%. Asia is the largest regional market with 71% of all global LNG imports. Except for Japan, Pakistan, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Singapore, all other countries recorded a rise in LNG imports last year.