After 25 consecutive days of severe gas shortages, gas supplies increased last Saturday when Summit’s terminal resumed full operations and Excelerate’s terminal resumed partial operations.
However, supplies from Excelerate’s terminal had been declining for three days because there were no new LNG cargoes. On Wednesday afternoon, gas supplies from the US company’s terminal stopped completely, further worsening the gas shortage.
Petrobangla oversees LNG imports with approval from the Energy Division, while its subsidiary Rupantarita Prakritik Gas Company Ltd. (RPGCL) is responsible for importing the fuel. Two officials involved in LNG supply told Prothom Alo that gas supplies from Excelerate stopped at 3:00 pm yesterday, Wednesday, because there was no LNG left in storage.
Sources at Petrobangla and RPGCL said the Energy Division had placed orders for several LNG cargoes through a direct-purchase process, outside the regular procurement system, to buy LNG at lower prices.
Four of those cargoes were scheduled to arrive in August, but none has arrived. The failure of the direct-purchase cargoes to arrive has created an LNG shortage. As a result, the terminals are ready to receive and regasify LNG, but there is no LNG available to supply.
Domestic gas production has been declining for nine years. To make up for the shortfall, Bangladesh began importing LNG in 2018. There are two floating LNG terminals in Moheshkhali for receiving imported LNG—one operated by US-based Excelerate Energy and the other by local company Summit.
Excelerate’s terminal was shut down following a fire on 21 July. It became fully operational again last Saturday, but because no new LNG cargo had arrived, it initially supplied gas from its existing stock. Its supplies began declining on Monday.
Sources said Summit’s LNG stocks are also running low. A TotalEnergies cargo carrying LNG is expected to arrive today, Thursday, and may be connected to Summit’s terminal, allowing supplies from that terminal to continue.
A cargo for Excelerate may arrive on 23–24 August. This means Excelerate’s terminal is likely to remain shut for the next few days, worsening the gas shortage.
Excelerate Energy’s terminal has a daily capacity of 600 million cubic feet, while Summit’s terminal can supply 500 million cubic feet. Last Friday afternoon, when both LNG terminals were shut, total gas supply in the country fell to 1.64 billion cubic feet a day.
Summit began supplying 90 million cubic feet that evening. By early Saturday, combined supplies from the two terminals had raised total gas availability to 2.42 billion cubic feet. Supply then fell to 2.40 billion cubic feet on Sunday and 2.28 billion cubic feet on Monday.
Daily gas demand is 3.8 billion cubic feet. Authorities normally manage the situation with a supply of around 2.7 billion cubic feet. Supply has remained below that level for about a month.
After Excelerate’s terminal shut down yesterday, total gas supply fell to 2.18 billion cubic feet. Of this, 560 million cubic feet came from LNG through Summit’s terminal, while domestic gas fields produced 1.62 billion cubic feet.
The decline in gas supplies also began reducing power generation yesterday afternoon. The situation worsened further in the evening. At 7:00 pm, demand rose to 17,345 megawatts while supply fell to 14,815 megawatts, resulting in 2,530MW of load-shedding. At 9:00 pm, load-shedding was still 2,443MW.
There were also reports of multiple power cuts in different parts of Dhaka after evening. The situation has worsened further in rural areas. If there is no rainfall over the next few days, the power sector could also come under greater pressure. The gas shortage may disrupt production at industrial plants, while household consumers could face difficulties cooking.