Dhaka (Platts)--26Nov2012/409 am EST/909 GMT

Bangladesh's plan to build its first floating LNG import terminal has been delayed after the consortium chosen in a preliminary selection process, US-based Astra Oil and Excelerate Energy, indicated its quote was not inclusive of pipeline costs, Petrobangla Chairman Hussain Monsur said Monday.

The consortium quoted a processing fee of $0.39/Mcf to cover installation and processing, LNG import and re-gasification costs, but subsequently said its quote did not include the installation of sub-sea and onshore pipelines, Monsur said.

It also sought an engineering, procurement and construction contract fee and credit support, he added.

"We sought clarification from the consortium over the deviation from its initial quote, but it is yet to come up with satisfactory response," Monsur said. If the consortium does not provide a satisfactory response, Petrobangla might relook its selection, he added.

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South Korea's Samsung C&T Corp. and India's Hiranandani Electricity were also short-listed to submit final bids by June 11 after the initial January 31 deadline was extended five times.

Bangladesh is planning a FLNG import terminal on Moheshkhali island in the Bay of Bengal with a capacity of 5 million mt/year, regasification capacity of at least 500,000 Mcf/d and berthing and mooring facilities for LNG ships with a capacity of 138,000-260,000 cubic meters, which Petrobangla is looking to contract on a build-own-operate-transfer basis for 15 years.

The country signed a memorandum of understanding to import 4 million mt/year of LNG from Qatar Petroleum in January 2011 and its private sector can also import LNG under recent policy changes. It has also moved to build power plants based on LNG.

Bangladesh's natural gas output hovers around 2.25 Bcf/d against demand of 2.7-3 Bcf/d.

--Mohammad Azizur Rahman, newsdesk@platts.com --Edited by Wendy Wells, wendy_wells@platts.com

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