LNG boosts daily gas supply to 3.200 mmcf

FE Report | Published: March 23, 2019 22:42:03

The country's overall natural gas supply crossed the 3,200 million cubic feet mark a day (mmcf), boosted by the imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG).
The lone operational floating, storage, re-gasification unit (FSRU) is currently re-gasifying around 511 mmcfd equivalent of LNG, which is the highest quantity of LNG re-gasification from Excelerate Energy's vessel at Matarbari in the Bay of Bengal.
According to state-run Petrobangla, the total natural gas output was 3,204 mmcf per day, as of Thursday.
Of the total output, local gas production companies produced around 1,035 mmcf or 31.8 per cent of the total daily output, international oil companies (IOCs) produced around 1657 or 50.8 per cent and the remaining 511 mmcf are re-gasified LNG.
Gas-guzzling clients of Chattogram are the major consumers of re-gasified LNG.
Of the total re-gasified LNG, the Karnaphuli Gas Distribution Company Ltd (KGDCL), dedicated to supplying natural gas to the Chattogram region, has been taking around 320 mmcf a day, or 70 per cent of the total quantity, said a senior official of state-run Gas Transmission Company Limited (GTCL).
Some 150 mmcf per day equivalent of re-gasified LNG is being supplied to Titas franchise areas and the remaining 41 mmcfd to the Pashchimanchal Gas Company Ltd (PGCL), he said.
The country's overall natural gas supply improved substantially with the start of full capacity re-gasification in the floating LNG terminal, said a senior Petrobangla official.
Karnaphuli is not taking virtually 'no gas' from the main pipeline as it meets its requirement from the re-gasified LNG.
Before supplying of LNG, the Karnaphuli took only around 230-250 mmcfd of gas from main pipeline, Bakhrabad-Fouzdarhat, for Chattogram consumers, said the official.
Bangladesh started commercial supply of re-gasified LNG from Exceleretae's FSRU on August 18, around four months after the entry of the FSRU loaded with LNG.
The Excellence, carrying 136,000 cubic metre of lean LNG from Qatar, arrived at the Moheshkhali Island terminal in April last year.
However, technical issues and rough seas during Bangladesh's southwestern monsoon over June-August, kept it stranded off the south coast of Chittagong for more than three months.
Currently, Petrobangla has been importing LNG from Qatar's RasGas and Oman's Oman Trading International (OTI).
Azizjst@yahoo.com