Bangladesh’s LNG imports rose sharply on the year in July and were the highest for any month since the country started importing LNG in 2018.
Receipts at Bangladesh’s two floating storage and regasification units (FSRUs) rose by 80pc to 497,300t last month from 275,900t in July 2019, judging by vessel size. Last month’s imports were the highest since the country started importing LNG in April 2018. The previous record was set in October, when the country absorbed 495,700t.
The Covid-19 outbreak weighed on demand late in the first quarter and in the second quarter, with imports flat on the year in March-June, after they doubled in January-February. Bangladesh’s second FSRU, the 138,000m³ Summit LNG, was installed in April last year, adding 3.5mn t/yr of import capacity to the 2.8mn t/yr of Bangladesh’s first FSRU, the 138,000m³ Excellence.
Qatar was the biggest supplier of LNG to Bangladesh in July, delivering four cargoes over the month, in line with previous months but up from two a year earlier. Bangladesh also increased its imports from Nigeria’s Bonny Island plant to two deliveries in July, from none a year earlier. Nigerian LNG exports to Bangladesh have been quick in recent months, with the country delivering four cargoes in May-July, up from one in January-April.
Nigerian LNG exports have held broadly stable in recent months compared with exports from other major suppliers, which have fallen sharply amid reduced demand following the coronavirus. But the country appeared to have sold more on the spot market than under its oil-linked term contracts, as it increased deliveries to non-traditional buyers such as Pakistan and China, while shipments to traditional buyers such as Spain and Portugal, which purchase Nigerian LNG under oil-linked contracts, fell sharply in recent months.
The increase in Bangladesh’s July LNG imports came despite lower power sector gas demand, as gas-fired generation slipped to 5.85GW over the month from 6.04GW in July 2019, according to data from Bangladesh’s Power Grid Company. But total average power generation in the country edged up to 9.98GW from 9.85GW, supported by stronger coal burn and power imports from India. Coal-fired generation rose to 0.66GW from 0.25GW.
