Gas restored to Ctg households, industries await normalcy

After about 36 hours of disruption, gas supply to household consumers in Chattogram was restored on Saturday, although industries will have to wait for a few more days to get normal supply of gas.

CNG-powered vehicles faced almost double the usual wait times at refuelling stations due to low gas pressure.

A technical glitch at a floating liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal at Cox's Bazar's Maheshkhali caused an outage of gas supply to the entire Chattogram district at around 3am on Friday, causing huge trouble for consumers.

Besides hitting household consumers severely, the gas cut-off affected Chattogram's major industrial and commercial sectors, including fertiliser plants, power plants, and other gas-dependent industries.

The gas flow began to gradually resume at 3pm on Friday in some areas with low pressure in the supply. The gas pressure at households increased to almost normal 24 hours later.

Jannatul Ferdous, a resident of the city's Khulshi area, told TBS that she could not cook on Friday because there was no gas. "But today (Saturday) the gas pressure is completely normal so I faced no problem in cooking."

Karnaphuli Gas Distribution Company Limited (KGDCL) oversees gas supply in Chattogram. The company relies entirely on imported LNG for gas supply. Previously, in times of gas crisis in Chattogram, gas was brought in from the Ashuganj-Bakhrabad pipeline from Sylhet and Cumilla regions.

However, after the commencement of LNG imports, the Ashuganj-Bakhrabad pipeline was made one-way. As a result, gas is now only transported from Chattogram.

KGDCL officials said the glitch occurred during recommissioning of one of the two pipelines of the LNG terminal which had been under maintenance since November.

Heavy industries have to wait for several more days

Aminur Rahman, general manager (operation) of KGDCL, told The Business Standard on Saturday, "Currently, we are receiving slightly over 100 million cubic feet of gas. At present, it is possible to supply gas up to a maximum of 120-130 million cubic feet. Therefore, heavy industrial factories have been told to wait for a few more days to get the gas supply. It may take an additional 4-5 days to fully increase the pressure."

According to KGDCL data, daily demand for gas in Chattogram ranges from 312–350 million cubic feet. Of this, 90–100 million cubic feet is allocated to two fertiliser factories in Chattogram, 40 million cubic feet to power plants, and 19 million cubic feet to CNG filling stations. The remaining gas is supplied to residential and commercial customers.

KGDCL has a customer base of 614,914 in Chattogram, including heavy industries such as steel, glass, cement, shipbreaking, textiles, in addition to households.

Under normal circumstances, the Maheshkhali LNG terminal can supply 280–300 million cubic feet of gas. However, since November, the pipeline maintenance work at the terminal had been causing a shortfall of 70-100 million cubic feet of gas. This led to a severe gas crisis in industries and businesses. Due to reduced gas supply, production in industrial factories is being affected.

Factory owners are compensating by using alternatives such as diesel and furnace oil, resulting in increased production costs. If LNG supply is not assured through the two pipelines, there is no possibility of the gas situation returning to normal before March or April, according to officials.

Although the LNG terminal typically supplies 800 million cubic feet of LNG daily, the supply decreased by around 40%, reaching 500 million cubic feet in January.

According to Petrobangla data, the daily gas demand for gas in the country is 4,000 million cubic feet. But now supply of gas has come down below 2,500 million cubic feet per day.

Petrobangla officials say that LNG has to be imported from the spot market. Due to the ongoing dollar crunch, LNG imports are now less than normal. But the maintenance work at the LNG terminal worsened the crisis, they said.

Gas pressure low at refuelling stations

Due to low gas pressure at CNG refuelling stations, there was a public transportation crisis in the port city on Saturday. The number of CNG-operated buses, minibuses, tempos, leguna, and auto-rickshaws was less. Although some vehicles operated with octane as an alternative, there were complaints of increased fare charges.

Ahsanur Rahman Choudhury, president of the Chattogram district branch of the Bangladesh Petrol Pump Dealers and Distributors Association, told TBS, "Even though gas supply has resumed, the pressure is low. While the amount of gas previously supplied to vehicles was within 10 minutes, now it takes 20 minutes. So, long queues of vehicles occurred at CNG refuelling stations."