Gas consumption sees sharp fall as demand slides on Eid holidays
Friday, 25 September 2009
FE Report
The country's natural gas consumption fell drastically by around 30 per cent over the past week as the bulk consumers especially the industrial units shut operations with the Eid-ul-Fitr hangover still persists.
The overall gas output was 1,335 million cubic feet (mmcf) Wednesday and 1435 mmcf Thursday against the cumulative daily production capacity of 1985 mmcf.
All the 20 operational gas fields supplied significantly lower gas than their capacity due to slide in demand.
Unlike the usual trend, gas output from the gas fields operated by state-owned companies outpaced that of the international oil companies (IOCs).
The state-owned companies - Bangladesh Gas Fields Company Ltd, Sylhet Gas Fields Company Ltd and Bangladesh Petroleum Exploration and Production Company Ltd - collectively produced 780mmcf gas Thursday.
While the IOCs -- Chevron, Cairn, Tullow and Niko - jointly produced 655mmcf gas on the same day.
Usually Chevron operated Bibiyana alone supplies around 670mmcf, more than the accumulated production of the IOCs Thursday.
"We have been producing a reduced quantity of gas of around 600 mmcf in last several days as the factories and some power plants did not consume gas," Petrobangla Chairman M Muqtadir Ali told the FE.
The country's natural gas consumption fell drastically by around 30 per cent over the past week as the bulk consumers especially the industrial units shut operations with the Eid-ul-Fitr hangover still persists.
The overall gas output was 1,335 million cubic feet (mmcf) Wednesday and 1435 mmcf Thursday against the cumulative daily production capacity of 1985 mmcf.
All the 20 operational gas fields supplied significantly lower gas than their capacity due to slide in demand.
Unlike the usual trend, gas output from the gas fields operated by state-owned companies outpaced that of the international oil companies (IOCs).
The state-owned companies - Bangladesh Gas Fields Company Ltd, Sylhet Gas Fields Company Ltd and Bangladesh Petroleum Exploration and Production Company Ltd - collectively produced 780mmcf gas Thursday.
While the IOCs -- Chevron, Cairn, Tullow and Niko - jointly produced 655mmcf gas on the same day.
Usually Chevron operated Bibiyana alone supplies around 670mmcf, more than the accumulated production of the IOCs Thursday.
"We have been producing a reduced quantity of gas of around 600 mmcf in last several days as the factories and some power plants did not consume gas," Petrobangla Chairman M Muqtadir Ali told the FE.