Bangladesh suffers acute gas shortage as Summit's floating LNG terminal damaged

Bangladesh is facing an acute gas shortage as one of the two floating LNG terminals in the Bay of Bengal suffered damages due to the aftershock of cyclone Remal. 

A broken pontoon floating in the Bay of Bengal hit the terminal - Floating Storage Regasification Unit (FSRU)- due to the impact of cyclone Rimal on 27, damaging the terminal's ballast tanks, people familiar with the matter said.

The damage in the terminal, owned by Summit LNG, is causing a shortage of 400 million cubic feet (mmcf) of gas supply to the national grid, officials of Petrobangla, the state-owned gas company responsible for managing oil, natural gas and other mineral resources, said.

Usually, the country's daily LNG supply from the two floating terminals stands at 1,100 mmcf, but in the last eight days, the supply amount has dropped below 700 mmcf, officials said.

It will take at least a month or more to repair the terminal, Petrobangla Director (Operation and Mines) Kamruzzaman Khan said, adding that they are considering taking the terminal to Singapore for the repair.

Kamruzzaman Khan said a Belgium-based company inspected the technical aspects of the damaged tanks and proposed that the terminal be sent to Singapore for repair.

"We asked to repair it in the country if possible but we lack the technical requirements for the repair. We'll probably take it to Singapore."

Meanwhile, industries, power plants, CNG filling stations have reported a severe gas crisis due to the damage in the LNG terminal.

The Bangladesh Textile Mills Association President Mohammad Ali Khokon said none of the industries have been able to operate since the morning.

"I received several calls from our member industries located in Mymensingh, Gazipur, and Narayanganj areas," he said. 

"How can we survive if the industry does not get an adequate supply of gas?"

Khokon said he also talked to Pretrobangla and Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Company top officials, but didn't get any positive response regarding the situation.

A textile miller, who asked to remain anonymous, said the industries in the Rupganj area have been facing these challenges for a long time.

Petrobangla sources said they are planning to ration gas supply for the time being to deal with the crisis.

Meanwhile, technical experts have already sent a report to the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources regarding the damaged LNG terminal, according to the sources at the state-owned Rupantarita Prakritik Gas Company Limited (RPGCL).

"Attempts are being made to resume operation of Summit's terminal. In the next 2/1 days it will be known exactly how long it will take to resume it. We can't give a specific date," RPGCL Managing Director Rafiqul Islam told TBS. 

There are two LNG terminals in the Bay of Bengal. Summit's terminal is located at Maheshkhali in Cox's Bazar. Another terminal has been set up by US firm Accelerate Energy. The two LNG terminals have a capacity of 1,100 million cubic feet.

Petrobangla's gas supply data showed that 600 mmcf of LNG was supplied from one terminal in the last 8 days

During normal times, more than 1,150 mmcf of gas was supplied to the national grid through LNG conversion from the two terminals.

The country has a demand of 4,000 mmcf of gas daily. Of the demand,  2,635 mmcf is met by domestically produced gas, which witnessed a shortfall of 1,365 mmcf of gas last Tuesday.

Due to the closure of Summit's LNG terminal, gas supply to power plants has also decreased. As a result, gas-based electricity production has decreased by about 1500 megawatts compared to normal times.

This is not the first time that the gas supply from the floating terminal has been cut off in a disaster. 

Earlier on May 12 last year, due to the impact of cyclone Mocha, supply was stopped from two FSRUs due to security reasons.

At that time, there was a severe gas crisis in the power generation and industrial sectors of different regions of the country including Chattogram.