Gas supply begins to rise, says Petrobangla

Gas supply, which had returned to normal after nearly two months, declined on Thursday due to rough weather in the sea, causing some inconvenience to consumers. Supply began to increase again on Friday morning.

In a notice issued today, Bangladesh Oil, Gas and Mineral Resources Corporation (Petrobangla) said, gas supply situation is improving as LNG transfer from a cargo resumed at the floating terminal in Maheshkhali, Cox’s Bazar.

Petrobangla said Thursday evening that rough weather had disrupted the transfer of LNG to the floating terminal at sea. As a result, the overall gas supply declined somewhat due to the reduced LNG supply.

Petrobangla sources state that while the daily demand of gas in the country is around 3.8 billion cubic feet (bcf), the situation was being managed by supplying 2.65 to 2.7 bcf for a long time. On Wednesday, 2.6 bcf of gas were supplied but fell to 2.2 bcf on Thursday evening, making a decline of 400 million cubic feet.

As of 10am today, the supply reached 2.34 bcf.

Sources note that 35 to 40 per cent of the gas supplied in the country comes from imported LNG. There are two floating terminals at sea in Maheshkhali, Cox's Bazar, for converting and supplying LNG into the pipeline. One is operated by the US company Excelerate, and the other by the local company Summit.

The two terminals can supply up to 1.05 bcf of LNG combined.

Even though a new ship carrying LNG arrived, it could not be transferred to the terminal yesterday due to adverse weather. LNG supply subsequently fell to 590 million cubic feet, from around 1 bcf in recent days.

730 million cubic feet have been supplied as of this morning. Petrobangla has stated that this supply will be gradually increased.