China National Energy Engineering & Construction Co Ltd (CNEE) could be awarded Bangladesh’s third floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) project if negotiations over its proposal are successful, a junior energy minister has said.
State Minister for Power and Energy Anindya Islam Amit said the government would now negotiate with the companies that submitted proposals after the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) approved the processing of CNEE’s proposal under a government-to-government (G2G) procurement arrangement.
The approval, given on 28 July, concerns a proposed FSRU at Kutubjom in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar district.
“We invited expressions of interest and the CCEA approved the proposal under the G2G basis following an evaluation,” Mr Amit told a seminar at Dhaka Club on Tuesday.
The relevant ministry team will now hold discussions with the companies and negotiate the terms, he said.
“If the negotiations are satisfactory, the process will move to the contract stage,” Mr Amit said.
The move comes after documents reviewed by Just Energy News showed similarities between CNEE’s proposal and an earlier proposal submitted by another energy company for an FSRU project at Maheshkhali.
Mr Amit said no specific project had yet been approved under the G2G arrangement. The proposal will still require approval from the Cabinet Committee on Government Purchase (CCGP), while the FSRU itself would be developed under the G2G framework.
He said the government had opted for the arrangement because it needed to bring the FSRU into operation as quickly as possible.
Following the policy decision, requests for proposals were issued to the relevant companies and bids have since been submitted, he said.
According to the Cabinet Division, the proposal is being processed under Section 68 of Bangladesh’s Public Procurement Act 2006 and Rules 99(2) and 107(2) of the Public Procurement Rules 2025.