& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

LNG Terminal Project

None interested

Pre-qualified parties stay away from bidding over tight timeline

Sharier Khan
The Petrobangla tender for installing a terminal in Maheshkhali to import liquefied natural gas (LNG) flopped on Monday as no bidder turned up to submit offer.
Sources said four pre-qualified bidders lost interest in the tender as Petrobangla insisted on completing the project within a maximum of 18 months, which implies within the tenure of this government. The project aims at easing the country's gas crisis by importing LNG containers from Qatar.
The bidders, who were also asked to arrange finance for the project, said it would be impossible to complete installation of the terminal within such a time frame. Instead, they wanted 24 to 30 months.
They explained that arranging the project finance of around $300 million itself would take six to nine months.
The bidders were also concerned that although the government was embarking on such a big project, it did not have any agreement with any LNG exporting country. Petrobangla said it has a memorandum of understanding (Mou) with Qatar.
But the bidders said anyone could have a Mou, but to make a project feasi-ble, the government needed an agreement. In response, Petrobangla said Qatar wanted to see the terminal first before signing such an agreement.
At a pre-bid meeting a couple of months back, the Petrobangla chairman suggested that the bidders should not participate in the bid if they could not complete the project within the tenure of this government.
Petrobangla, however, offered them flexibility regarding the bid submission deadline, which was initially set in February. Then it shifted the deadline to April 5, April 15 and finally April 30.
But none of the bidders
turned up on April 30.
Meanwhile, the government acquired huge land in Maheshkhali for the terminal project, and the Gas Transmission Company Ltd (GTCL) has started installing a 91-km pipeline with 30-inch diameter between Maheshkhali and Anwara. This pipeline will be needed after the government imports LNG from Qatar to Maheshkali coast, regassify the LNG and supply 500 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) gas to the national grid. The GTCL itself is financing this project.
After floating the tender in January 2010, Petrobangla took around a year to pre-qualify four bidders out of 10 interested companies to participate in the tender.
The four bidders were
Golar LNG Energy Management of Singapore, joint venture of Astra Oil (Netherlands) and Excelerate (USA), Samsung of South Korea and Hiranandi Pvt Co of India with Hoegth LNG, Norway.
More than two years ago, the government had planned importing LNG containers at the rate of 500 mmcfd gas, which is equivalent to the current gas supply deficit in the country. Although this gas will be costly, mixing it with local gas would make it cost effective, experts say.
“Importing LNG will give the country an energy option. It will also ensure that the ongoing gas-based power, fertiliser or other industrial consumers will continue operation without any disruption,” said an official.