Damaged LNG terminal partially operational after two weeks

After being closed for almost two weeks due to fire damage, gas supply to the national grid has resumed from the floating LNG (FSRU) terminal operated by Accelerate Energy in Maheshkhali. 

The terminal has been supplying gas at a rate of 115 million cubic feet daily since 3:10 am on Thursday. 

This has increased the total gas supply to the national grid from imported LNG to 660 million cubic feet.

According to Petrobangla and related sources, the terminal’s operations are being gradually normalised. 

It is expected to be able to supply gas at a higher capacity in the next four to five days. If sufficient LNG cargo is received during this period, gas supply to the national grid will increase further. 

Consequently, the crisis of power generation, industries, CNG stations and residential customers may also gradually reduce.

Engineer Mohammad Nasir Uddin, Deputy General Manager of the LNG Department of the Transformed Natural Gas Company Limited (RPGCL), said that a unit of the terminal was commissioned on Thursday morning. Initially, gas supply has started on a limited scale. The supply will be increased in phases.

On July 21, after a fire broke out at the floating LNG terminal of Accelerate Energy in Maheshkhali, its operations were completely stopped due to a technical fault. As a result, there was a daily shortage of about 500 million cubic feet of gas in the national grid. 

As the supply of imported LNG decreased by almost half, gas pressure decreased across the country. Residential customers, industrial entrepreneurs and CNG users suffered the most. At the same time, load shedding increased in different areas of the country due to the reduction in fuel supply to gas-based power plants.

Currently, the daily gas demand in the country is about 3.8 billion cubic feet. During normal times, about 2.7 billion cubic feet of domestically produced and imported LNG are supplied. Of this, about 160 to 165 million cubic feet of gas comes from domestic gas fields and 100 to 110 million cubic feet of gas comes from imported LNG. 

Since the terminal was closed, there was a major shortage in that supply.

Officials related to the energy sector say that although the situation has started to improve with the launch of a unit, it will still take a few days to completely end the crisis as the terminal has not yet returned to full capacity. 

In addition, it is important to ensure regular LNG cargo unloading. If everything goes according to plan, gas pressure will increase further in the next few days and there will be a positive impact on power generation. 

Earlier, State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Anindya Islam had said that after the initial repairs, it will be possible to supply 280 to 300 million cubic feet of gas daily from the terminal. Those concerned hope that if that capacity can be gradually restored, the gas and power crisis that has been going on for the past two weeks will be greatly reduced.