LNG supply falls sharply as cargo delay, FSRU fault deepen gas crisis

Bangladesh's LNG supply to the national grid fell sharply to around 300 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) today (14 August) after an LNG carrier remained unable to berth at Summit's floating LNG terminal, while a technical fault forced Excelerate Energy's FSRU at Moheshkhali offline again, worsening gas shortages for households, industries and transport despite a marked improvement in power supply.

Petrobangla and Energy Division officials said the Moss-type LNG carrier Al Hamra had been waiting in the Bay of Bengal for the past three days but had not been permitted to berth at Summit's FSRU by Excelerate Energy, which technically operates the facility.

Infographics: TBS

Officials said weather conditions were currently favourable for docking and hoped another membrane-type vessel would berth by last night, allowing LNG unloading and helping improve gas supply from today.

Summit Power, however, said they were fully available and ready for regasification and there was no shutdown of the terminal.

The situation was further complicated when the Excelerate-operated FSRU went offline at around 4pm today because of a technical fault. It had been supplying around 250-300 mmcfd of LNG to the national grid before the shutdown and had not resumed operations by 9:40pm.

Engr Md Shoyeb, director at Production Sharing Contract Division at Petrobangla, confirmed the shutdown to TBS and said the FSRU was expected to resume operations shortly, although he did not provide a specific timeline.

The terminal had only partially resumed operations on 6 August after remaining largely out of service for more than two weeks following a 21 July fire during a ship-to-ship LNG transfer. 

The fire damaged systems linked to its boiler operations and initially cut around 450mmcfd of gas supply. The terminal gradually restored supply using one boiler, but the latest technical fault has again disrupted an already constrained LNG supply system.

The Al Hamra situation

According to sea-traffic monitoring agency MarineTraffic, Al Hamra had been waiting offshore for several days.

Officials said Excelerate Energy, which handles the technical operations of Summit's terminal, had reportedly not allowed the vessel to berth, citing concerns over the terminal's suitability for the ship.

A Petrobangla official said the reason for not accepting the vessel remained unclear.

Petrobangla officials said the FSRUs operated by Summit and Excelerate are designed with industry-standard flexibility and can handle both Moss-type and membrane-type LNG carriers for ship-to-ship LNG transfer operations.

The Business Standard contacted Md Habibur Rahman Bhuiyan, country director of Excelerate Energy Bangladesh, for comment. He declined to comment, saying he was in a meeting.

Summit Power International General Manager Mohsena Hassan told TBS that the company's LNG terminal remained fully available and ready for regasification. "Summit's LNG terminal remains fully available and ready to regas. There has been no shutdown of the terminal," she said.

Summit's FSRU has a regasification capacity of 500 mmcfd. The terminal had remained idle since yesterday afternoon after the FSRU could not be connected to the LNG cargo. Once operations resume, the additional supply is expected to ease the ongoing gas crisis, officials said.

BW Lesmes brings some relief

Meanwhile, another LNG cargo, BW Lesmes, arrived in the country today and berthed at Summit LNG Terminal, Mohsena Hassan, general manager of Summit Power International, said.

Following the cargo's arrival, the terminal began supplying around 110mmcfd of regasified liquefied natural gas (RLNG) to the national gas grid at 6:10pm, providing additional supply amid the ongoing gas shortages.

The supply is expected to gradually increase to around 550 mmcfd by about 2am on 15 August, improving gas availability for industries, power generation and other consumers.

Summit officials said the company remained committed to maintaining safe and reliable operations and maximising gas delivery within the technical capacity of the terminal and the national transmission system.

The company said it would continue working with Petrobangla and the government to support energy security and help ease the gas shortage.

Power supply improves

Despite the sharp reduction in LNG supply, the country's power situation improved today as the government allocated a larger share of available gas to power plants.

Petrobangla officials said the power sector received around 920 mmcfd of gas , broadly equivalent to the level supplied before the 21 July fire at the Excelerate FSRU.

Petrobangla supplied around 1,900mmcfd of gas, including LNG, against national demand of roughly 3,800mmcfd, leaving a shortage of nearly 50%. Almost half of the available supply went to power plants, helping reduce load-shedding.

Power Grid Bangladesh data showed a significant improvement in the electricity situation compared with recent days, when load-shedding had averaged around 3,000MW.

Load-shedding stood at around 1,500-1,800MW between 1am and 5am, when demand remained above 15,000MW. The situation improved rapidly after dawn, with load-shedding falling to 669MW at 6am, 304MW at 7am and 185MW at 8am before reaching zero by 10am.

Power supply remained largely adequate during the daytime, with virtually no load-shedding around noon and in the afternoon.

The Bangladesh Power Development Board attributed the improvement to increased gas allocation to power plants and the resumption of higher electricity supply from Adani Power. Power Grid data showed Adani supplied more than 1,200MW on 14 August, compared with more than 1,400MW for most of the day on 13 August.

Gas rationing hits households

The decision to prioritise power generation has come at a cost for other consumers.

Households, CNG stations, industries and commercial establishments have been receiving extremely low gas pressure in many areas.

Long queues of CNG-run vehicles have formed outside refuelling stations, while motorists in some places blocked roads demanding normal gas supply, saying the shortage was severely affecting their livelihoods.

The shortage has also begun affecting essential food-processing industries, including rice, sugar and wheat-flour factories, which have been forced to reduce production because of inadequate gas pressure and recurring power cuts.

Chattogram has been particularly affected. Karnaphuli Gas Distribution Company Limited received only 150mmcfd of gas in the 24 hours to 8am today, against the city's minimum daily demand of around 350mmcfd. The supply was therefore only 43% of requirements, leaving a daily shortfall of around 200mmcfd.

Gas supplies to Chattogram have fallen steadily since 21 July because of technical problems at the LNG terminal. The city was receiving around 280mmcfd at the time, but supply later fell to 230mmcfd and at times to 200mmcfd. It has now dropped to 150mmcfd.

Mahmuda Begum, superintendent of Industrial Police-3 (Chattogram), said there were 1,778 factories in the district's industrial areas. "As of a week ago, four factories had shut down completely and production at 14 others had been disrupted because of the gas shortage. The situation may have deteriorated further since then," she said.