FSRU overhaul deferred

In the third instance of deferral, US-based Excelerate Energy has postponed the overhaul of its floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) to October 24 from September.
This move follows a request from state-run Petrobangla, as the government seeks to avert a potential gas shortage ahead of the national elections scheduled for January next year, according to sources.
The overhaul of the FSRU named Excellence will take around 45 days, as it will leave the country's remaining FSRU owned by Summit Group with additional work.
While regasification with a single unit reminds Bangladesh about severe gas and power crises in 2021, and the most recent during Cyclone Mocha in May this year; experts warn of potential technical glitches resulting from long-deferred scheduled overhauls.
With a 3.75 million tonne per year (MTPA) capacity, Excellence began commercial operation on August 19, 2018, and never underwent servicing, said a senior Petrobangla official.
After the first overhaul, he said the FSRU's capacity would be enhanced by 20 per cent to 600 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd).
With the overhaul, Bangladesh's overall LNG regasification capacity is set to increase to 1.10 billion cubic feet (Bcf) per day from the current capacity of 1.0 Bcf, utilising two operational FSRUs, including local Summit Group's 3.75 MTPA capacity FSRU, the Petrobangla official told the FE on Thursday.
Both the FSRUs - located on Moheshkhali Island in the Bay of Bengal - went out of operation for a brief period during Cyclone Mocha in May this year as a precautionary measure to avoid any damage from the cyclone.
It took more than a week to return the regasification to normalcy. Meantime, the country had to contend with energy shortages, coupled with rolling blackouts.
Petrobangla then was forced to ration gas supplies to industries and power plants, and the country had to rely more on oil-fired power plants to cope with the gas crisis resulting from the squeezed or non-operation of the FSRUs.
During the Excellence overhaul, the country will have to halt LNG import from the spot market to cope with the squeezed regasification capacity, which may continue until early December, said a senior official of Rupantarita Prakritik Gas Company Ltd (RPGCL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Petrobangla responsible for LNG trading in the country.
The country had planned to import a total of 9 LNG cargoes from the spot market during the July to December period, he said, adding already 8 spot LNG cargoes have been booked for import before the initiation of Excellence's overhaul in October.
One more spot LNG cargo might be imported in December, one month ahead of the next general election slated for early January 2024, said the official.
Despite ceasing spot LNG imports, Bangladesh will continue importing LNG from long-term suppliers during Excellence's overhaul period, the official added.
Bangladesh is set to receive a total of 14 LNG cargoes from its two existing LNG suppliers - Qatargas and OQ Trading - from October to December this year.
In October, Bangladesh will receive five LNG cargoes from long-term suppliers. Qatargas will supply three LNG cargoes and OQ Trading will provide two.
For both November and December, Bangladesh plans to import four LNG cargoes, said the official.
In November, Qatargas is scheduled to deliver three LNG cargoes, while OQ Trading will supply one LNG cargo, according to the 2023 annual delivery programme.
During December, Qatargas will be the sole supplier of all four LNG cargoes, the RPGCL official added.
Petrobangla will have to rely solely on Summit Group's FSRU for a month and a half during the overhaul period for Excellence. The servicing will leave the country's overall LNG regasification capacity limited to only 500 mmcfd, he said.
After the initiation of the two FSRU operations, Bangladesh did, however, rely on one FSRU for LNG regasification in the past.
This occurred when Summit Group's FSRU was out of operation for three months from November 2021, due to the rupture of its mooring line from the mooring system in the Bay of Bengal.
According to official data from Petrobangla, Excelerate Energy's FSRU had to regasify 10 per cent more than its official capacity, reaching 550 mmcfd, due to the short supply of natural gas. Summit's FSRU resumed LNG regasification on February 28, 2022, to return to normal operations.
To avoid potential energy disruptions ahead of the general elections, Bangladesh consistently urged Excelerate Energy to postpone its overhaul schedule and was successful on three occasions. Firstly, shifting it from April to June, then later from June to late September, and now from September to late October.
But energy expert Prof M Tamim says the government is taking a risk by delaying the scheduled overhaul of the FSRU to ensure a supply of natural gas to industries, power plants and other gas-consuming consumers.
M Tamim, a professor at the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), said, "If the FSRU faces any sort of technical difficulty due to its continuous operation without overhaul, the government will have to pay the price."
The entire energy supply situation will also be at stake, added Mr Tamim, who was a special assistant to the former caretaker government.
Bangladesh's overall natural gas output is currently hovering around 2.86 Bcf per day, including 950 mmcfd of re-gasified LNG, according to Petrobangla data as of September 13, 2023.

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