Summit LNG terminal shuts amid rough seas, deepening gas crisis

The country's gas crisis has intensified as gas supply from the Summit LNG terminal in Maheshkhali Upazila of Cox's Bazar, was suspended from 5pm yesterday (13 August) after rough seas prevented an LNG cargo from being connected to the terminal.

Earlier, a fire at Excelerate Energy's LNG terminal had reduced its supply capacity by half. 

As a result, gas supply to the national grid has fallen to around 190 crore cubic feet a day against demand of around 380 crore cubic feet.

According to the LNG Division of Rupantarita Prakritik Gas Company Limited (RPGCL), the two floating LNG terminals in Maheshkhali have a combined capacity to supply 110 crore cubic feet of gas daily.

At present, supply from the terminals has fallen to around 30 crore cubic feet. Excelerate Energy's terminal has a capacity of 60 crore cubic feet a day, while Summit's capacity is 50 crore cubic feet, it added.

Excelerate's terminal was shut after the 21 July fire and partially resumed operations on 6 August.

As a result, the national grid became heavily dependent on Summit's terminal, which had supplied up to 56 crore cubic feet of gas a day.

According to the report, an LNG cargo reached the Bay of Bengal on Monday, but could not be connected to Summit's terminal because of rough seas. The terminal therefore continued supplying gas from its existing stock.

Summit began reducing supply to the national grid on Monday evening (10 August), supplying 20 crore cubic feet on Tuesday (11 August) and 10 crore cubic feet on Wednesday (12 August) before halting supply altogether on Thursday (13 August), the report adds.

The cargo could not be connected to the terminal until this morning because of adverse weather conditions for berthing.

Excelerate's partially operational FSRU has been supplying 30 crore cubic feet of gas a day to the national grid since 6 August.

An RPGCL official told The Business Standard that the sea conditions were more than twice the limit set for berthing LNG cargoes.

The official said weather conditions could improve somewhat from Friday afternoon and authorities would try to berth the cargo tonight if necessary.

Berthing is normally not carried out at night because of the risk of major accidents. However, the official said there was no other option given the gas crisis.

The situation could improve somewhat from Saturday morning (8 August).

Meanwhile, an LNG cargo named Al Hamra, supplied by Saudi Aramco, has not been received by either of the Maheshkhali terminals due to an insurance-related objection.

A Petrobangla official told The Business Standard that repairs to Excelerate's fire-damaged terminal, including a boiler cable, have been completed.

However, the terminal will have to remain shut for 48 to 72 hours to synchronise its second boiler before returning to full capacity.

According to ministry instructions, Summit will provide full supply first. Excelerate's terminal will then be shut for repairs when gas demand pressure is lower.

In 2009, Bangladesh produced 174.4 crore cubic feet of gas a day.

Domestic production rose to around 270 crore cubic feet in 2018.

That year, 30 to 50 crore cubic feet of LNG was added to the national supply for the first time to meet the shortfall.

With limited progress in new gas exploration and declining production from older wells, domestic gas output has now fallen to 160 to 170 crore cubic feet a day.

Petrobangla currently imports around 100 crore cubic feet of LNG on average and tries to maintain total supply at around 270 crore cubic feet.

However, adverse weather, complications in cargo unloading and technical problems at the terminals have repeatedly disrupted LNG supply, affecting power, industry, transport and daily life.

At an event yesterday, Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Iqbal Hasan Mahmud Tuku said there was currently no option other than managing load shedding and waiting until repairs to the floating LNG terminal are completed.

He said engineers were working on the FSRU and that efforts were being made to reduce load shedding and supply gas to industries.