Petrobangla, Summit close to striking 15-year LNG deal
Energy
State-owned Petrobangla is close to finalising a new 15-year long-term liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply contract with privately-owned Summit Group for around 1.5 million tonnes of LNG per year starting from January 2026, the heads of both companies told S&P Global Commodity Insights.
Petrobangla has completed negotiations with Summit Group and a sales and purchase agreement will be inked soon, Petrobangla Chairman Zanendra Nath Sarker said, adding that the new agreement will be Bangladesh's sixth long-term LNG import contract and the fourth to be signed since June 2023.
"Petrobangla intends to ink two deals with Summit at one go. Another deal will be inked for a floating storage and regasification unit, or FSRU, to be built by Summit," Sarker said.
He said on 6 December 2023, cabinet committee on government purchase approved Petrobangla's proposal to award Summit Group a contract to build a second FSRU near its existing FSRU at Moheshkhali in Cox's Bazar in the Bay of Bengal.
None of Petrobangla and Summit disclosed the price levels of the deals.
"We are in talks with the government for LNG supply under a long-term arrangement," Summit Chairman Muhammed Aziz Khan confirmed separately. "Hopefully, we will be able to supply around 1.5 million tonnes of LNG per year to Bangladesh from 2026 and onward," he said.
"These deals and their executions will hugely support Bangladesh's energy security as well as the country's economic growth," Aziz Khan added.
Bangladesh inked its fifth long-term LNG agreement with Houston-based Excelerate Energy on 8 November 2023. Excelerate, which currently supplies LNG to Bangladesh from the spot market, will supply up to 1 million tonnes/year of LNG for 15 years starting 2026.
On 29 January, QatarEnergy and Excelerate Energy jointly said they had signed the long-term LNG deal.
On 1 June 2023, Bangladesh signed a long-term SPA with QatarEnergy to buy up to 1.8 million tonnes/year of LNG for 15 years starting January 2026, and on 19 June, it signed an SPA with OQ Trading for up to 1.5 million tonnes/year of LNG for 10 years starting 2026.
Bangladesh currently imports LNG from QatarEnergy and OQ Trading under long-term LNG supply deals.
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