Gas supply near pre-crisis level as LNG recovery eases industrial shortages

Bangladesh's gas supply rose to 2,610 mmcfd (million cubic feet per day) at noon today (15 September), nearing the level seen before the Excelerate terminal disruption that began on 21 July.

Gas supply to industries in Chattogram had become almost normal yesterday, according to industry insiders, while the situation remained largely unchanged in Dhaka, Gazipur, Narayanganj, Ashulia, Manikganj, Mymensingh and Narsingdi, with only slight improvements reported in some areas.

Mohammad Hatem, president of the BKMEA, told The Business Standard that the association hoped the situation would improve from tomorrow.

Petrobangla data shows that of the total, 1,620 mmcfd came from domestic gas fields and 990 mmcfd from imported LNG (RLNG).

The increase in LNG supply has improved the national gas supply situation since Monday night.

At 10pm on Monday, total gas supply was 2,582 mmcfd, comprising 1,602 mmcfd of domestic gas and 980 mmcfd of RLNG.

Earlier, at 8pm the same day, total supply was 2,362 mmcfd, with RLNG contributing 762 mmcfd.

The latest supply level is close to the gas availability before the disruption caused by the Excelerate FSRU incident, which reduced LNG injection into the national grid.

The Excelerate-operated Floating Storage and Regasification Unit (FSRU) at Moheshkhali was damaged in a fire incident during a ship-to-ship LNG transfer in July, disrupting gas supply from the terminal for several weeks.

The outage reduced imported gas availability and contributed to a sharp deterioration in the country's overall gas supply situation.

The FSRU gradually resumed operations in August, but its supply was interrupted again on 19 August after the terminal ran out of LNG, causing national gas supply to fall to around 2,185 mmcfd a day.

On 22 August, the terminal resumed supply, initially injecting around 100 mmcfd of gas into the national grid.

The latest rise in RLNG supply to 990 mmcfd has relieved the national gas network, bringing overall supply closer to the pre-incident level, Petrobangla officials said.

Industries see improvement

Rakibul Alam Chowdhury, managing director of HKC Apparels Limited, a Chattogram-based garment factory, said the gas supply situation there was close to normal, with his factory receiving gas pressure of around 10 PSI.

Gas pressure in Chattogram's export processing zones was also reported to be close to normal.

Belayet Hossain, executive director of Chattogram-based Asian Group, a $450 million apparel-exporting conglomerate, said gas supply has improved and expressed hope that it would return to normal by tomorrow.

Khorshed Alam, chairman of Little Star Spinning Mills Limited in Dhaka's Ashulia, said gas supply had improved slightly by yesterday afternoon.

"The pressure was previously zero PSI, but it increased to one PSI on Tuesday. However, our approved gas pressure is 10 PSI," he said.

"Production has increased slightly under these circumstances. We hope the situation will improve within the next 24 hours."

Khorshed further said it would take time for gas to reach Dhaka and other areas through the pipeline from Chattogram.

Saleudh Zaman Khan, managing director of NZ Tex Group in Narayanganj's Araihazar, a leading spinning mill, said his factory received gas pressure of 3 PSI for some time yesterday, but it later fell back to 1 PSI. "Our approved gas pressure is 15 PSI."

He also said they expected that the situation might improve from tomorrow.