The consumers of port-city Chattogram are set to get the country's first re-gasified LNG supply from tomorrow (Thursday) after completion of all pre-commissioning activities, said officials.
The re-gasified LNG (liquefied natural gas) will be supplied to the port-city through the newly-completed 91 Moheshkhali-Anwara pipeline.
US-based Excelerate Energy Bangladesh Ltd (EEBL) initiated the re-gasification of imported LNG from August 12, and subsequently started injecting it to the pipeline network with low pressure.
"We have been working since then to increase the natural gas pressure in the pipeline," said a senior official of the state-run Petrobangla.
Officials said Excelerate Energy successfully moored its floating storage and re-gasification unit (FSRU) to the docking facility at Moheshkhali Island terminal in the Bay of Bengal on August 05, and then initiated pre-commissioning work.
The FSRU vessel Excellence, carrying 136,000 cu-m of lean LNG from Qatar, arrived at the terminal on April 24. It was scheduled to start injecting gas into the pipeline network for consumption from May 07.
But technical issues and rough sea had kept the vessel stranded off the south coast of Chattogram for more than three months.
Petrobangla signed 'terminal use agreement' and 'implementation agreement' with the US firm on the Moheshkhali Floating LNG Terminal in July 2017.
Excelerate built the re-gasification unit on build, own, operate and transfer (BOOT) basis, the officials also said.
It will charge US$ 0.49 per Mcf (1,000 cubic feet) against its service from the day one. Petrobangla will buy re-gasified LNG from the terminal on take-or-pay basis, as per the contract.
The FSRU, moored at Moheshkhali Island near the Chattogram Port, has a capacity of 3.75 million tonnes per year, they added.
Azizjst@yahoo.com