Drastic fall in gas consumption during Eid

FE Team | Published: August 27, 2012 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00

FE Report
The country's overall natural gas consumption fell drastically by 37 per cent to 1,420 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) last week from 2,240 mmcfd as the bulk consumers, especially the industrial units, shut operations during the Eid-ul-Fitr vacation, a senior Petrobangla official said.
The natural gas output decreased to 1,420 mmcfd on Eid day (August 20, 2012) when most of the country's industries were shut as the people were enjoying the Eid festival, he said.
Overall natural gas output was around 2,240 mmcfd in the previous week of Eid vacation.
Eid-ul-Fitr is one of the largest annual festivals of the Muslims, which is celebrated after one month of fasting from dawn until dusk in Islamic month of Ramadan.
All the 20 operational gas fields of the country supplied significantly lower gas than their capacity due to slide in demand during the vacation, Petrobangla statistics shows.
Unlike the usual trend, gas output from the fields operated by state-owned companies outpaced that of the international oil companies (IOCs), the official said.
During the vacation the cumulative output from the IOC-operated gas fields declined to almost one-third (around 444 mmcfd) from their usual output of around 1,250 mmcfd, he added.
However the cumulative gas production from the state-owned companies was reduced slightly to 976 mmcfd from 992 mmcfd a week before.
Production from all the IOCs operating in Bangladesh -- US's Chevron, Australian Santos and UK's Tullow Oil -- was reduced in line with the sliding demand during the vacation, the official said.
Chevron's Bibiyana gas field, the country's largest gas producing field with the output of around 810 mmcfd, was totally shut for maintenance on August 20-21, he said.
Chevron's overall output from three onshore gas producing fields in Bangladesh -- Bibiyana, Jalalabad and Maulavi Bazar -- was reduced to 330 mmcfd during the vacation from 1,120 mmcfd a week before.
"The US company's Jalalabad gas field is now totally shut over maintenance. It will remain closed for two more days," said the official.
Natural gas output from UK's Tullow-operated Bangura gas field was reduced to as low as 40 mmcfd from its regular 100 mmcfd, he said.
Australian Santos-operated offshore Sangu-11 produced almost half (12.7 mmcfd) of gas from the usual supply of around 25 mmcfd, Petrobangla data shows.
"We have been producing a reduced quantity of gas over the past several days as most of the factories, offices and some gas-guzzling power plants were shut due to slide in demand," the Petrobangla official said.
The authorities usually let the IOCs and state-owned firms do maintenance work during Eid vacations when the demand falls, he said.
The Petrobangla official expressed hope that the country's natural gas consumption will pick up again to the normal level by next week with the resumption of factories, power plants and offices after the Eid-ul-Fitr holiday hangover.