Dhaka, Ctg to have increased gas pressure from this month

Natural gas pressure in Dhaka and Chittagong is set to increase from this month with the inauguration of two compression stations at Ashuganj and Elenga, a top government official said Wednesday.
"We have completed construction of the two much-needed compression stations," a senior official at state-owned Gas Transmission Company Ltd (GTCL) told the FE.
He said commissioning of these two compression stations was expected this month.
On successful commissioning of the compression stations, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is expected to inaugurate commercial operation of both of these compression stations, he said.
Hyundai Engineering Co. Ltd of South Korea has installed the compression stations at Ashuganj in Brahmanbaria and Elenga in Tangail to improve the pressure of gas supply at a cost of Tk 8.54 billion.
Manila-based Asian Development Bank (ADB) provided the lion's share of the project cost, to which Bangladesh government has also contributed.
Installation of the compression station at Ashuganj will increase gas pressure by 33 per cent to 1,000 psi (per square inch) from the existing 750 psi, said the GTCL official.
The existing pressure of around 500 psi at Elenga would also increase to 1,000 psi with the commissioning of Ashuganj and Elenga compression stations.
The existing low gas pressure problem in and around Dhaka and Chittagong would be eased with the installation of the compression stations, a senior Petrobangla official said.
All types of gas consumers, including power plants, industries, compressed natural gas filling stations, households, and commercial entities would be benefited with the inauguration of the compression stations.
The government earlier in April 2012 inaugurated the operation of Muchai compression station built by US-based Chevron Bangladesh.
The government had initiated the move to install three compression stations, including that of Muchai, more than seven years ago in 2004.
It had floated tenders twice in 2006 and 2008 to build three compression stations, but both the bidding processes bore no fruits.
After six years of the initial move, the government in May 2010 had floated tender for building two compression stations -Ashuganj and Elenga, after awarding Muchai compression station to Chevron.
Chevron built the compression station at a negotiated rate of US$ 52 million.
Installation of all these compression stations is necessary to carry natural gas from the country's northeastern gas-rich region to gas-starved southeastern region with adequate pressure.
Despite having abundant gas supplies in gas-rich Sylhet region, the gas cannot be carried to gas-hungry Chittagong due to the lack of  compression stations, said the official.