Summit Group expects its long-awaited LNG (liquefied natural gas) terminal to be functional in next three days following the rectification of a fresh fault.
"Foreign expert divers are working now. If all goes well, the FSRU may be operational in three days," Faisal Khan, managing director of Summit Corporation, told the FE on Wednesday.
The terminal has lain inoperative for months as it hit a technical snag afresh upon its return to Moheshkhali mooring facility.
Earlier, it was taken to Singapore's Seatrium yard for repair.
Officials said the floating, storage and regasification unit (FSRU) got damaged in late May during cyclone Remal. Later, it suspended operation since May 30.
Summit Corporation looks after its LNG infrastructure and energy trading apart from power generation issues.
"On 11 July 2024, during the preparation for mooring the FSRU with the disconnectable torrent mooring (DTM) plug in the subsea landing pad, there was an unexpected entanglement and damage to the DTM buoy messenger line," Summit said previously.
Summit immediately assigned local divers and identified the entanglement.
It engaged a Singapore-based service provider and asked for diving support vessel (DSV) for repair.
The DSV reached Moheshkhali on July 23, said a senior official of the state-backed Rupantarita Prakritik Gas Company Ltd (RPGCL).
Current bad weather is also delaying the resumption of its operation, according to him.
Bangladesh's overall LNG regasification capacity dipped to 600 million cubic feet per day from 1,100 mmcfd with the non-operation of Summit's FSRU.
As Remal hit the coast, a broken stray steel structure weighing hundreds of tonnes banged the Summit LNG Terminal, causing significant damage, a company spokesperson said previously.
Earlier, Summit sought a force-majeure provision to avoid any demurrage or penalty due to its non-operation for the technical glitch in the FSRU.
The RPGCL, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Petrobangla that looks after LNG trading in Bangladesh, had to cancel four spot LNG cargoes for June delivery windows as Summit's FSRU halted operations.
Several long-term cargoes were also deferred, he said.
Despite supply shortages, Bangladesh is not facing any gas crisis currently as offices and factories countrywide were shut most of the days over the past week amid quota-related violence.
Curfew has been in force in Bangladesh since the midnight of July 19 to quell violent protests.
However, government offices, banks and stock exchanges reopened on Wednesday for limited hours as the government relaxed the curfew.
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