Excelerate Energy Bangladesh Limited (Excelerate) and IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, have secured debt financing for Bangladesh’s first liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal.
The equity for the country’s Moheshkhali Floating LNG project had been tied up earlier with IFC coming in with a contribution of USD 10.8 million and Excelerate’s equity amount of USD 43.1 million.
To be located offshore Moheshkhali island in the Bay of Bengal, the project has an estimated cost of USD 179.5 million.
IFC helped arrange the debt financing package of USD 125.7 million for the LNG project including IFC’s loan of USD 32.8 million from its own account and the balance from CDC Group, DEG, FMO and JICA. The funding will support the timely construction and installation of the fixed infrastructure required for the project, according to the companies.
Bangladesh’s first LNG import terminal will enable Petrobangla, the state-owned energy company, to increase natural gas supply in the country by up to 20 percent, sufficient to support up to 3,000 MW of power generation capacity.
The construction of the terminal will commence in the fourth quarter of 2017 and is expected to be in service by mid-2018.