UNB, Dhaka :
The fate of the longstanding LNG terminal project is likely to be decided at a meeting of the Project Processing Committee (PPC) on Monday, said Petrobangla chairman Dr Hussain Monsur.
The Petrobangla chairman said that they received a term-sheet of US-based consortium of Astra Oil and Excelerate Energy last month about the project.
After the scrutiny, he said, it was put forward to the Energy Ministry to place it at the PPC meeting.
The PPC is an inter-ministerial body formed comprising representatives from different ministries, including the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Law
and also the Bangladesh Bank. Once the US firm’s proposal is cleared by the PPC, Petrobangla will move ahead with the project.
The Energy Ministry already proposed holding a PPC meeting, but Finance Ministry officials expressed their inability to be present at the meeting for their busy schedules with budget preparation. “Finally, the PPC meeting was rescheduled for June 9,” Dr Hussain Monsur told UNB.
The government undertook the move first in 2009 to set up an LNG terminal at Moheshkhali Island in the Bay of Bengal as part of a plan to import liquefied natural gas from the Gulf state of Qatar to resolve the country’s nagging gas crisis.
A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed with the Gulf nation to import 5 million tonnes of LNG per year. The government then invited an international tender to set up the floating LNG terminal at the Moheshkhali Island.
