Gas Supply Expected to Normalise in Days, Says Titumir

Bangla Press Desk:  Gas supplies are likely to return to normal within days as the government moves to boost imports and tap alternative sources, according to Prime Minister’s Planning Adviser Rashed Al Mahmud Titumir.

At a Dhaka seminar on energy security on Monday, Titumir put the country’s gas supply at 2,600 to 2,700 million cubic feet a day (mmcfd), against demand of 3,800mmcfd.

Of the current supply, 1,600mmcfd comes from domestic sources and 1,000mmcfd from LNG, he said at the seminar, organised by the Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies (BIISS).

Factoring in applicant customers, Titumir said total gas demand would climb to 5,200mmcfd, adding that the government had already rolled out a range of initiatives to meet it.

“Work is under way on a land-based LNG terminal at Matarbari, with a capacity of 1,000mmcfd, being built under a build-own-operate-transfer arrangement,” he said.

He added that talks with a Chinese firm to build a floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU), with a capacity of 600mmcfd, in the deep waters off Moheshkhali were nearing completion.

Gas pressure has dropped across areas, including Dhaka, Gazipur and Narayanganj, for several days, disrupting daily life and severely hampering production at factories nationwide.

City dwellers have faced acute hardship cooking at home or in restaurants, with rising costs and inconvenience as people turn to alternative fuels.

Food outlets have felt the squeeze too, with many left without gas to cook, running out of food entirely.

The gas crunch has also triggered long queues of vehicles outside CNG filling stations.

BNP Acting Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi had earlier said the government was working to overcome the crisis, promising a resolution within one to one-and-a-half weeks.