Bangladesh, Qatar in LNG Deal

Bangladesh will sign a 15-year deal with Qatar’s RasGas Company to import liquefied natural gas starting in 2018 as the country transforms into a major consumer of the super-cooled fuel, two officials told Reuters. The deal will be signed on Sept. 25 in Qatar, said Mohammad Quamruzzaman, managing director of the Rupantarita Prakritik Gas Company, part of state-owned oil firm Petrobangla. Under the deal, RasGas will supply 1.8 million tons a year of LNG for the first five years and to 2.5 million tons over the next 10 years, the Petrobangla officials said. The agreement is Bangladesh’s first LNG import agreement ever. Qatar is the world’s biggest LNG exporter and the fuel will cover the country’s domestic natural gas shortfall. Qatar said last week it planned to raise its LNG output by 30% to roughly 140 billion cubic meters a year in the next five to seven years. The International Energy Agency says global LNG export capacity would reach 650 bcm a year by the end of 2022.