By Ruma Paul
DHAKA, June 24 (Reuters) - A joint venture of Qatar
Petroleum and Exxon Mobil Corp is among 12 firms that
have indicated interest in building Bangladesh's first onshore
liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal, according to an
official document reviewed by Reuters.
Also on the list of firms that have submitted formal
expressions of interest are units of Shell, France's Total and
South Korea's Samsung, as well as major Japanese trading houses.
The broad interest underlines how builders of major new projects
are looking for potential buyers like Banglesdesh to mop up a
significant long-term surplus expected in the LNG market.
Rupantarita Prakritik Gas Co, part of state-owned oil and
gas company Petrobangla, earlier this year had requested
expressions of interest (EOI) from potential terminal developers
for a land-based LNG regasification terminal at Matarbari in the
Cox's Bazar district of southern Bangladesh.
The expression of interest is for the design, engineering,
procurement, construction and commissioning of an onshore
terminal that can handle 7.5 million tonnes a year of LNG,
including receiving, unloading, storage and regasification.
Qatar Petroleum and Exxon earlier this year made a final
investment decision to build the $10 billion Golden Pass LNG
export terminal in the United States, and will need to secure
buyers for the gas.
Another company on the list is Poly-GCL Petroleum Group
Holdings, an overseas umbrella of China's privately-owned GCL
Group Holding which operates at least three power plants in
China. GCL had also been planning an LNG export project in the
African country of Djibouti, as well as a LNG receiving terminal
in east China.
The Bangladesh project is on a build-own-operate basis for
20 years, with ownership to then be transferred at no cost to
the Bangladeshi government, or a company nominated by the
government.
A committee is expected to evaluate the proposals before
shortlisting a few and it could take more than a year to
complete and award the contract for the terminal.
Applicants who have submitted their expressions of interest
Name Base
Japan Investment Corp for Matarbari regas Japan
terminal
JV of Marubeni Corp and Osaka Gas Co Ltd Japan
JV of Qatar Petroleum LNG Services Ltd Qatar
and Exxon Mobil
JV of Sumitomo Corp and Chugoko Electric Japan
Power Co
JV of Summit Corp Ltd, Mitsubishi Corp Bangladesh
and JERA Co
JV of Total Gas Electric Holdings France France
and Total Gas and Power Business Service
JV of United Enterprises & Co, Posco Bangladesh
International and Korea Gas Corp (KOGAS)
Mitsui and Co Japan
Petronet LNG Ltd India
Poly-GCL Petroleum Group Holding and H Hong Kong
Sterling Group
Samsung C&T Corp S.Korea
Shell Gas and Power Development The Netherlands
(Reporting by Ruma Paul in DHAKA
Writing by Jessica Jaganathan in SINGAPORE
Editing by Kenneth Maxwell)
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