Gas supply rises as Summit fully resumes operations, Excelerate partially
Some relief may come today, Saturday, after 25 consecutive days of severe gas shortages. The Summit LNG terminal is now operating at full capacity, while Excelerate Energy’s terminal has partially resumed operations. As a result, gas supply has increased since early Saturday. However, it may take several more days for the gas crisis to ease completely.
Petrobangla oversees LNG imports with the approval of the Energy Division, while its subsidiary, Rupantarita Prakritik Gas Company Limited (RPGCL), handles the imports. Two officials involved in LNG supply told Prothom Alo that gas supply from Summit’s terminal began at 4:00am today at 460 million cubic feet (mmcf) and from Excelerate’s terminal at 300 mmcf.
Petrobangla Chairman Md Abdul Mannan told Prothom Alo that gas is now being supplied from both terminals. Summit’s terminal is operating at full capacity, while Excelerate’s terminal is supplying gas partially. The increased supply will provide some relief to consumers, he said.
There are two floating LNG terminals in Maheshkhali, Cox’s Bazar, for supplying imported LNG. US company Excelerate Energy’s terminal has a capacity of 600 mmcf, while local company Summit’s terminal has a capacity of 500 mmcf.
Excelerate’s terminal was shut down after a fire incident on 21 July. This reduced gas supply and worsened the crisis. From household cooking stoves to industrial plants and power generation, operations were disrupted. The reduction in power supply increased load-shedding. Long queues also formed at filling stations as CNG-powered auto-rickshaws and other vehicles struggled to obtain fuel.
According to Petrobangla sources, Excelerate’s terminal has two boilers, each with a capacity of 300 mmcf. One of the boilers was damaged in the fire. Gas supply from the undamaged boiler resumed on August 6. However, gas supply from Excelerate suddenly stopped at 4:00 pm on Friday due to a technical problem. After the fault was repaired, gas supply from that boiler resumed.
The boiler damaged in the fire has not yet been brought back into operation. Work is under way to restore it. Before it can be restarted, gas supply from the terminal will have to be completely stopped for testing. This will result in a 72-hour complete shutdown of Excelerate’s gas supply. Discussions are under way on when this will be done, but no specific time has yet been set. It may take several more days.
Meanwhile, Summit’s supply was reduced last Monday due to a shortage of LNG. It fell to 200 mmcf on Tuesday. From Wednesday until Thursday afternoon, the terminal supplied 100 mmcf. Supply stopped completely at 5pm on Thursday. A Vitol vessel arrived in the Bay of Bengal on Friday afternoon. LNG unloading from the vessel began at Summit’s terminal at 7:00 pm and took around eight hours. However, Summit had already begun supplying gas from its stored reserves from 6pm. Initially, it supplied around 95 mmcf, which rose to 460 mmcf in the early hours of Saturday. The company may increase supply by another 70–80 mmcf.
Earlier, an LNG vessel sent by Saudi Aramco was sent back. Unlike the vessels that regularly deliver LNG, the vessel sent by Saudi Aramco was not compatible with the requirements for ship-to-ship LNG transfer. Such compatibility is necessary to prevent the risk of accidents. Although the terminal had raised objections in advance, Aramco sent the vessel anyway. It waited at sea for several days, but LNG could not be taken from it.
Two responsible Petrobangla officials told Prothom Alo that LNG could not be taken from the Aramco vessel because of somewhat rough weather at sea. LNG might have been taken from the vessel if the sea had remained calm. The vessel has been sent back, and Aramco will send another LNG vessel instead. There was no difficulty in receiving LNG from the new vessel sent by Vitol Asia. The two Maheshkhali terminals are accustomed to regularly receiving LNG from such vessels.
Daily gas demand in Bangladesh is 3.8 billion cubic feet (bcf). A supply of 3 bcf is enough to maintain supplies to almost all sectors. Under normal circumstances, however, supply is managed through rationing at up to 2.7 bcf. Of this, 1.05 bcf comes from LNG. This was the level of LNG supply before Excelerate was shut down. Total gas supply in the country had fallen to 1.73 bcf by Friday afternoon. It has now risen to around 2.4 bcf. There is still a daily supply shortfall of around 300 mmcf compared with normal levels. The shortfall could be met once Excelerate’s terminal resumes full gas supply.
People involved in the sector said the government has taken various initiatives to address the energy crisis, but there is no immediate solution. The government has had to rely on nature. Gas and power demand has fallen over the past two days due to rain and the weekly holidays, reducing the level of load-shedding. If temperatures rise, however, a power shortage could emerge again and load-shedding could increase.