Ten global firms from Japan, the USA, South Korea, and China along with their consortiums have submitted bids for building an onshore LNG terminal in Bangladesh, as the country switches to this alternative fuel.
Officials said the terminal, with an annual capacity of 7.5 million tonnes, will be built on the basis of equity partnership among the parties concerned.    
Half of the total firms and their consortiums that submitted EOIs are from Japan, two each from South Korea and China and the remaining one is from the United States, a senior Petrobangla official said.
The firms vying for the contract are Jera Co. lnc, Osaka Gas Co, Mitsui & Co. Ltd, Itochu Corporation and the consortium of Kyushu Electric power Co, lnc and Marubeni Corporation of Japan, SK E&S Co Ltd and consortium of Kogas & Posco Daewoo Corporation of South Korea, Yantai Jereh Petroleum Equipment & Technologies Co Ltd and consortium of China National Machinery Import & Export Corporation (CMC) and Black Veatch (BV) from China and Flour Deniel Eastern, Inc of the USA.
These firms submitted expression of interests (EOIs) at the close of the bid-submission deadline on July 12 to build the land-based LNG terminal on build-own-operate-transfer (BOOT) basis, said the official.
"An evaluation committee will shortlist several firms from among these ten after scrutinizing their proposals and ask them to submit final proposals later," he added.
State-owned Petrobangla's wholly owned subsidiary Rupantarita Prakritik Gas Company Ltd (RPGCL) floated the international tender seeking proposals from the bidders on March 14.
"The deadline was extended following requests from some potential bidders," he said.
The RPGCL had relaxed some technical criteria and development- experience requirements in line with the potential bidders' requests, said the official.
Separately, Petrobangla signed an MOU with India's Petronet in December to build a 7.5-million-tonne-per-year-capacity LNG-import terminal on Kutubdia Island in the Bay of Bengal.
State-owned Power Cell has also shortlisted four international firms — Japan's Mitsui & Co. Ltd, China's consortium of China Huanqiu Contracting and Engineering Corporation & Yifeng Industrial Gas Co Ltd, India's Petronet and Royal Dutch's Shell EP International Ltd — to build a 3.5-million-tonne-capacity onshore LNG-import terminal on build-own-operate (BOO) basis at Matarbari of Moheshkhali Island in the Bay of Bengal.
It would be built under an equity partnership of developer, financier and a state-owned entity of Bangladesh.
The selected bidder would have 60 per cent stakes in the proposed project and implement it as an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor.
International Finance Corporation's IFC Infra Ventures and state-owned Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) would share equally the remaining 40 per cent stakes.
"The government has planned to award contracts soon to build at least two onshore LNG-import terminals, each with the annual capacity of 7.5 million tonnes," a senior official of energy and mineral resources division under the ministry of power, energy and mineral resources said Tuesday.
The developers of these two land-based LNG-receiving terminals would be selected from those who submitted EOIs and shortlisted four firms, including Petronet. Those whose offers are best suited would be picked, said the official, who deals with LNG (liquefied natural gas) issues.
In the wake of depleting reserves of natural gas being used as main fuel in the country, the government has moved for LNG import from the international market in a bigger way to keep the wheels moving.           
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Source: The Financial Express