Gas supply to improve by Saturday

Daily life is in disarray due to a severe gas crisis; however, officials said the ongoing suffering may lessen by next Saturday, although it will take more time to return completely to normal.

The decrease in gas supply has disrupted electricity production, leading to increased load shedding.

The crisis became acute after gas supply from a floating LNG terminal (FSRU) in Moheshkhali, Cox’s Bazar, was completely shut down on 21 July due to an electrical short circuit that damaged key components. While gas is being supplied from another terminal, the shortage remains severe.

Against a daily demand of 3.8 to 4 billion cubic feet, the supply is around 2.65 billion cubic feet. Of this, about 1 billion cubic feet comes from imported Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG).

With one of the two LNG terminals damaged, its supply has dropped to 500 million cubic feet, bringing the total gas supply to about 2.15 billion cubic feet. As a result, a dire gas crisis has hit all sectors, including households, industrial factories, power plants, and CNG stations.

Following the accident at the terminal, an expert team from abroad arrived and began emergency repair work on 23 July.

An official from the Energy and Mineral Resources Division told Agamir Somoy, “Some machinery has already been brought from abroad. Repair work is now progressing rapidly there. It is hoped that the gas supply situation will improve by next Saturday.”

Of the two floating terminals, one is operated by the US company Excelerate Energy with a capacity of 600 million cubic feet, and the other, with a 500 million cubic feet capacity, is operated by the private company Summit Group.

It was primarily Excelerate Energy’s terminal that was damaged. The US company has requested until 10 August to fully repair the terminal. Before that, following partial repairs next week, a supply of 300-350 million cubic feet of gas may begin.

However, an official from the Energy Division told Agamir Somoy that based on current progress, it is expected that the full repair work will be completed before the time requested by Excelerate.

Expressing regret over the gas crisis, State Minister of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Aninda Islam Amit said at the Secretariat on Monday, “The government is working on the matter with the highest priority. The defect will be fixed very soon. The crisis will decrease somewhat within next week. It will take more time to become fully normal.”

In various places, including Dhaka, cooking in households is being severely disrupted due to the lack of gas. Many are managing to cook at extra cost using LPG cylinders or electric stoves. Some are using wood-burning stoves, while others are buying food from restaurants.

A major crisis has also emerged in industrial factories, where production is being hampered and costs are rising. Businesspeople are spending their days in extreme anxiety over timely product delivery.

Long lines of vehicles have been seen at CNG stations for the past few days, and the income of CNG-powered vehicle drivers has decreased.

The impact of the gas crisis has also reduced electricity production. As temperatures have risen, electricity load shedding has also increased. On Sunday, the maximum electricity demand in the country was 16,383 MW, while the maximum production was 15,485 MW. On the day, load shedding exceeded 1,500 MW. Load shedding continued on Monday as well.

According to data from the Power Development Board (PDB), the capacity of gas-based power plants in the country is 12,154 MW. However, due to the gas crisis, electricity cannot be produced according to demand.

While production from gas-based power plants has averaged 5,000-5,500 MW, it has now dropped to 4,000 MW. PDB officials said the production cost of gas-based electricity is low. As production there has decreased, oil-based power plants must be operated, but the cost is much higher, which is why load shedding has increased.

Former BUET Professor Ijaz Hossain told Agamir Somoy, “The gas crisis has taken a dire form mainly due to long-term neglect in domestic exploration. This is not possible overnight. Along with significantly increasing the exploration of domestic gas, another LNG terminal could be constructed to import LNG to solve the emergency crisis.

“Moreover, we need to develop at least two weeks of LNG storage capacity for emergency periods. All of this will depend on economic capacity and the dollar.”

However, he warned that a permanent solution to the country’s gas crisis is not possible solely by increasing LNG imports, as import dependency creates significant pressure on the economy due to price fluctuations in the international market.

Therefore, the exploration of new gas fields, increasing production from existing fields, rapid completion of offshore exploration, and energy diversification could be the long-term solution.