Qatar and Bangladesh on Sunday discussed broadening energy cooperation including future LNG supplies, according to a statement by Bangladesh’s Ministry for Power, Energy & Mineral Resources.
Mohammed bin Saleh Al Sada , Minister of Energy and Industry of Qatar, met on Sunday in Doha with Bangladesh’s visiting State Minister for Power, Energy & Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid.
According to the statement, Al Sada said Qatar is ready to extend energy cooperation with Bangladesh, including LNG import from the world’s largest producer of the chilled fuel.
The two ministers also discussed the extension of a memorandum of understanding on LNG supplies the two countries had signed, the Ministry said in the statement without providing more information.
Bangladesh currently has no infrastructure for the import of the chilled fuel.
State-owned Petrobangla recently said it had signed a deal with a unit of Texas-based LNG player Excelerate Energy for the use of Bangladesh’s first LNG import terminal.
Under the agreement, Excelerate Energy will deliver Bangladesh’s first FSRU near Moheshkhali Island in the Bay of Bengal on a build-own-operate-transfer basis.
The final 15-year agreement is expected to be signed once the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approves the project, according to reports. First imports could start in 2018.
Worth mentioning, Reliance Power recently also received an approval in principle from Bangladesh for the first phase of its LNG-based power plant project that includes a floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU).
The project will be developed in phases. The first phase of the project is expected to be completed in 2018-2019, 24 months after the construction starts on what Reliance Power claims is the largest foreign investment in Bangladesh at about US$1.3 billion.