LNG supply halts again from Excelerate terminal, Summit commences supply

Bangladesh has been reeling from a severe gas crisis for over three weeks. The situation worsened further when Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) supplies from Summit’s floating terminal were suspended on Thursday afternoon.

A new vessel carrying LNG arrived in the Bay of Bengal this evening, Friday. The cargo will be transferred to Summit’s terminal overnight. That is why the facility has resumed gas supplies on a limited scale. Supplies to the pipeline grid are expected to increase by Saturday morning.

Petrobangla oversees LNG imports under the approval of the Energy Division, whilst its subsidiary, Rupantarita Prakritik Gas Company Limited (RPGCL), manages the procurement process.

A senior official involved in the import operations stated that Excelerate Energy’s terminal shut down again at 4:00 pm today due to a technical fault and remained offline past 8:00 pm, exacerbating the gas deficit across the country.

Two responsible Petrobangla officials told Prothom Alo that a previous vessel dispatched by Saudi Aramco did not conform to the standard requirements of routine LNG carriers. Specifically, the vessel lacked ship-to-ship transfer capabilities, posing significant safety hazards. Although objections were raised prior to its arrival, Aramco proceeded with the shipment.

Sources indicate that adverse weather conditions at sea prevented LNG offloading from the Aramco vessel, which might have been feasible under calmer conditions. Consequently, a decision was made yesterday to turn the vessel back, with Aramco set to send a replacement cargo. Meanwhile, offloading from a newly arrived vessel chartered by Vitol Asia is expected to proceed smoothly, as the terminal is well-accustomed to handling such carriers.

Multiple sources connected to LNG distribution confirmed that Vitol's vessel berthed at Summit’s terminal at 7:00 pm today. The process of transferring LNG and initiating pipeline supply typically takes seven to eight hours, meaning distribution is expected to commence around 2:00 am.

Supply will be scaled up gradually and could reach 500 million cubic feet by Saturday morning. In the meantime, Summit has already begun releasing 90 million cubic feet of gas per day from its existing terminal reserves.

Earlier, to prevent complete depletion of stock, Summit had reduced its supply from Monday evening. Deliveries dropped to 200 million cubic feet on Tuesday, and further to 100 million cubic feet per day from Wednesday through Thursday afternoon, before coming to a complete standstill at 5:00 pm yesterday.

Speaking to Prothom Alo on Friday night, State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Aninda Islam Amit explained that Summit was unable to receive LNG from the Aramco vessel due to compatibility issues during ship-to-ship transfer amidst rough weather.

He confirmed that Aramco will dispatch a replacement ship, while Summit has already commenced offloading from another carrier.

Addressing the sudden technical fault at Excelerate’s terminal, the minister expressed hope that operations there would resume shortly.

Bangladesh relies on two floating terminals off Maheshkhali in Cox's Bazar to supply imported LNG. The terminal operated by US-based Excelerate Energy has a capacity of 600 million cubic feet per day, whilst local firm Summit's terminal can process 500 million cubic feet per day.

On 21 July, Excelerate’s terminal was stopped following a fire, severely curtailing gas supplies. The resulting shortfall disrupted household cooking, industrial manufacturing, and power generation, whilst long queues formed at CNG re-fuelling stations nationwide.

According to Petrobangla sources, Excelerate's terminal houses two boilers, each with a capacity of 300 million cubic feet. One boiler was damaged in the fire, but the undamaged unit resumed supply on 6 August.

Today's unexpected shutdown of this sole operational unit brought supply down to zero, though restoration work is underway to restart it overnight. Meanwhile, repairs on the fire-damaged boiler are ongoing; however, testing and commissioning will require a complete 72-hour shutdown of the terminal.

Discussions regarding the scheduling of this shutdown are underway, though no definitive timeline has been finalised yet, and it may take several more days.

Daily national gas demand stands at 3.8 billion cubic feet. Under normal circumstances, authorities manage the situation by supplying up to 2.7 billion cubic feet, of which 1.05 billion cubic feet is sourced from imported LNG.

Since yesterday afternoon, total LNG feed dropped below 300 million cubic feet, dragging total daily gas supply down to 1.93 billion cubic feet—from 2.03 billion cubic feet earlier in the day.

However, once Summit’s terminal ramps up output to its full 500 million cubic feet capacity, total LNG supply will reach 800 million cubic feet. This will bring national daily supply up to 2.43 billion cubic feet, offering partial relief from the acute crisis, though significant deficits will persist.

Should Excelerate’s terminal fail to recover overnight, total supply could remain depressed at 2.03 billion cubic feet tomorrow, Saturday, prolonging severe supply disruptions.

Industry experts note that despite various measures undertaken by the government to tackle the energy emergency, there are no immediate quick fixes, leaving operations largely reliant on favourable weather.

Widespread rainfall across parts of the country over the last two days has temporarily dampened electricity demand and reduced load-shedding. However, should temperatures rise again, power deficits are bound to widen, triggering a resurgence in power outages.