By Jessica Jaganathan
SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Japan's Mitsubishi Corp on Friday said it has agreed to acquire 25 percent of Bangladesh's Summit Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) terminal and plans to help develop an offshore receiving site in the South Asian country.
The other 75 percent of the Summit LNG terminal will remain with Summit Corp.
Summit LNG's project plans call for a floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) to be installed off the coast of Moheshkali, where it will receive and regasify LNG procured by Petrobangla, the country's national oil and gas company.
Construction of the terminal has already begun, with commercial operation expected to start in March 2019. The planned LNG import volumes are about 3.5 million tonnes per annum, Mitsubishi said.
Mitsubishi did not state the investment cost in the release, but an industry source close to the matter said it is investing about $20 million to $25 million for the 25 percent equity.
A Mitsubishi spokeswoman said the company declined to comment, and that the information was not public.
Bangladesh's economic growth rose by 7.28 percent in the financial year through mid-2017, and its population is expected to climb to over 185 million people by 2030, boosting demand for electricity and LNG for power generation.
Summit and Mitsubishi have agreed to jointly pursue other LNG projects in Bangladesh, said the Japanese company, from the supply of the super-chilled fuel to power generation.
In March this year, the two companies signed a memorandum of understanding to jointly pursue an integrated LNG-to-power development consisting of an on-shore LNG receiving terminal, associated LNG supply and construction of 2,400-megawatt gas-powered thermal power plant.
(Reporting by Jessica Jaganathan; Editing by Joseph Radford and Tom Hogue)
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