Dhaka: Summit Group’s LNG terminal started operation on Monday night, said its officials on Tuesday.

The Floating Storage and Regasification Unit (FSRU) which is known as LNG terminal arrived in the country on April 21 and it was moored at 6 kms off the island of Maheshkhali in Cox’s Bazar, reports the UNB.

‘Summit LNG Terminal Co Ltd (SLNG) has successfully completed the commissioning of its Floating Storage and Regasification Unit (FSRU) on April 29, Monday and it is supplying 500 mmcfd of regasified liquefied natural gas to the national grid,’ said a press release of the Summit Group.

‘This significant milestone was achieved approximately one month ahead of the schedule saving resources for the government and will be source of supply to many of the homes and industries waiting for much needed gas supply,’ it added.

Summit has brought the FSRU under a 15-year contract with USA’s Excerelate Energy and it has carried LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) from Qatar, said the officials.

About the arrival of the FSRU, Summit Group Chairman Muhammed Aziz Khan said that investors in Bangladesh need to believe that energy, gas and power will be available to their industries.

‘Our Summit LNG’s 500 mmcfd will help strengthen that trust. Price is a matter of demand and supply in a free-market economy,’ he said.

However, Bangladesh Energy and Regulatory Commission (BERC) has to set fair price as only a fair price can ensure uninterrupted gas and power supply, Aziz Khan added.

‘We are grateful for the opportunity given to us by the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources (MPEMR), Petrobangla and Rupantarita Prakritik Gas Co Ltd (RPGCL),’ he said.

This will be the second FSRU operation in the country after the inception of LNG import. The first FSRU was set up by US-based Excerelate Energy which came into operation in August last and now it is re-gasifying about 350 million cubic feet of gas per day (mmcfd).

State-owned Rupantarita Prakritik Gas Company Limited (RPGCL), a subsidiary of the Petrobangla, has been importing the LNG from Qatar and re-gasifying it through the FSRU of Excerelate Energy at a specific charge.

Similarly, Summit’s LNG terminal will re-gasify the RPGCL-imported LNG at a specific charge and supply it to the national gas grid, said the Petrobangla officials.

The Summit’s FSRU will be operated by Summit LNG Terminal Co Ltd (SLNG), a subsidiary of Summit Power International (SPI) and a company of Summit – Mitsubishi consortium.

Mitsubishi, the Japanese trading giant, acquired 25 percent of SLNG in August 2018 and is represented in the Board of Directors of the company.

Summit Group said the floating LNG terminal facility comprising of storage and re-gasification unit is part of SPI’s USD 1 billion investment programme by 2020 to deliver power and gas to Bangladesh.