IFC, Excelerate Energy secure financing for Bangladesh's first LNG terminal

DHAKA, Bangladesh — IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, and Excelerate Energy Bangladesh Limited (Excelerate) are co-developing the Moheshkhali Floating LNG project—Bangladesh's first LNG import terminal. The project will be located offshore Moheshkhali island in the Bay of Bengal with a project cost of $179.5 MM. IFC and Excelerate announced securing the debt financing for the project to help expand access to clean energy in Bangladesh. The equity for the project had been tied up earlier with IFC coming in with a contribution of $10.8 MM and Excelerate's equity amount of $43.1 MM.

Photo courtesy of Excelerate Energy.

As lead arranger for the project, IFC helped arrange the debt financing package of $125.7 MM for the LNG project including IFC's loan of $32.8 MM from its own account and the balance from CDC Group, DEG, FMO and JICA. The funding will support the timely construction and installation of the fixed infrastructure required for the project. 

Bangladesh's first LNG import terminal will enable Petrobangla, the state-owned energy company, to increase natural gas supply in the country by up to 20%, sufficient to support up to 3,000 MW of power generation capacity. The construction of the terminal will commence in Q4 2017 and is expected to be in service by mid-2018. 

Honorable Advisor to the Prime Minister of Bangladesh Dr. Tawiq-E-Elahi Chowdhury presided over the signing.

The terminal is the first fully integrated turnkey floating terminal solution whereby all services will be provided under a single contract by a single provider—Excelerate. The concession agreements for the project can serve as a template for other LNG projects in the country.

The terminal will include the provision of one of Excelerate's existing floating storage and regasification units (FSRU), the installation of a subsea buoy system anchored offshore, and the employment of port service vessels during operation. The FSRU will have 138,000 cubic meters of LNG storage capacity.

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