Fertiliser production gets precedence over power

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FE Report
The government has changed strategy in rationing of gas and started supplying additional gas to fertiliser factories as the Boro cropping season nears with the advent of winter.
The additional gas will come from supply cut to power plants.
"We are now supplying more gas to fertiliser factories to attain maximum output and meet the growing domestic demand during the largest cropping season," Petrobangla chairman Dr Hussain Monsur told the FE.
He said the prime minister has instructed to keep the fertiliser factories operational to ensure adequate supply of the input at cheaper price during the Boro cropping time.
All the three fertiliser factories that were shut down during summer to provide additional gas to power plants have started getting gas, the Petrobangla top brass said.
The energy ministry has decided to augment gas supply by 50 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) to fertiliser factories from the current 200 mmcfd to keep all the factories operational.
It also has a plan to supply around 700 mmcfd of gas to power plants instead of 810mmcfd provided during summer, said an energy ministry official.
With the advent of winter the consumption of electricity will decline due to limited operations of electrical equipment, especially air conditioners and fans, said the energy ministry official justifying the cut in gas supplies to power plants.
Petrobangla in June last year suspended operations in three gas-guzzling fertiliser factories -- Urea Fertilizer Fertiliser Factory at Ghorashal (UFFG), Polash Urea Fertiliser Factory at Ghorashal (PUFF) and Chittagong Urea Fertiliser (CUFL) - and diverted gas to power plants to generate additional electricity.
As part of its fresh gas rationing mechanism, the state-owned Petrobangla has also decided to increase gas supply to industry, commercial and domestic users, CNG fuelling stations and captive power plants to boost industrial output.
It has planned to introduce staggered holiday closure in industries, and forecasts that upto 40 mmcfd of gas could be saved because of the measure.
The country's industries now consume around 550 mmcf of gas daily.
In line with the government's gas rationing measures a number of gas-fired power plants including Rauzan 360 megawatts (mw), Shidhhirganj 240 mw, Fenchuganj 90 mw and Fenchuganj 50 mw were shut on Thursday.
Power plants having the combined generation capacity of over 750 mw remained shut only due to gas crisis.
The country's electricity generation is now hovering around 3600 mw against the demand for over 5,200 mw. The overall gas supply is around 1950 mmcfd against the demand for over 2200 mmcfd.
"We are working hard to augment energy output and come out of the 'embarrassing' energy rationing measures," said Petrobangla chairman.
He hoped that the situation would improve soon with the implementation of the government's short, medium and long-term measures to ensure energy security.