Bangladesh braces for LNG crisis for technical problem

A representational image. A liquefied natural gas (LNG) tanker.Reuters file photo

The country will experience shortage in gas supply for the next one and a half months as one of the two regasification units has been out of order, reports news agency UNB.

According to an official statement issued by the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources, it will not be possible to make ship-to-ship transfer of imported LNG due to the breakdown of a mooring line of two floating storage and regasification units (FSRUs) of the country.

As a result, the ministry said, there will be an interruption in the LNG supply to the country.

Regretting the imminent disruption, the ministry hoped to restore the gas supply by 15 January by repairing the mooring lines.

Official sources said the country supplies about 590 million cubic feet of gas per day (mmcfd) through two FSRUs installed at Maheshkhali. If the operation of one FSRU remains suspended, about 300 mmcfd of gas supply will not come into the supply network, deepening the crisis.

Currently, the country’s total gas output is about 2,970 mmcfd against an overall demand of 3,500.

Of the total output, about 590 mmcfd is imported LNG while the remaining 2,380 mmcfd is coming from the local gas fields resulting in an overall deficit of more than 500 mmcfd.

In this context, the shortage of nearly 300 mmcfd from the existing supply will further aggravate the crisis, said an insider to the news agency.