LNG supply shortage forces GTCL to suspend operation

The gas supply through the long-awaited Anwara-Fouzdarhat transmission pipeline had to be suspended only four hours after its commissioning on Tuesday night due to a scarcity of re-gasified LNG (liquefied natural gas).
Sources blamed the lack of coordination between the Gas Transmission Company Limited (GTCL) and the Rupantarita Prakritik Gas Company Limited (RPGCL) for the setback.
"We could carry only 25 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) of gas from 8:00pm to 12:00am through this pipeline," said a senior official of Gas Transmission Company Ltd (GTCL).
Its operation had to be suspended soon after commissioning, he told the FE on Wednesday.
The official, however, expressed the hope that supply of gas though the transmission line would resume from December 02 next.
Meanwhile, a senior official of Rupantarita Prakritik Gas Company Ltd (RPGCL) alleged that the GTCL did not confirm the date of commissioning of the transmission line beforehand.
This led to the scarcity of re-gasified LNG for the pipeline in question.
"Had we been informed of the commissioning date, we could have arranged gas by importing additional volume of LNG from Qatar's RasGas," added the official of the state-run RPGCL.
There is no scope for importing additional LNG to regasifiy before December 02, said the official.
Meanwhile, the Petrobangl is counting 'capacity payment' to Excelerate Energy owing to its failure to re-gasify less than the 'agreed' quantity of LNG.
Non-completion of the 30-kilometre pipeline in time has forced the Petrobangla to count substantial capacity payment since the commissioning of the Excelerate's FSRU (floating, storage, regasification unit), named Excellence, on August 18.
According to the deal, Petrobangla is required to pay the US firm around $237,000 (Tk 20.14 million) per day -- no matter it utilises the full capacity of FSRU or not.
The FSRU - Excellence -- has the capacity to regasify around 500 mmcfd equivalent of LNG a day, the official said.
The state corporation could so far utilise the maximum of 65.6 per cent capacity of the FSRU by regasifying 328 mmcfd, a senior Petrobangla official said.
The remaining 34.6 per cent capacity of the vessel remains unused.
Currently, regasified LNG is being supplied to Chattogram only through the 90-kilometre Moheshkhali-Anwara gas transmission line.
The Karnaphuli Gas Distribution Company Ltd (KGDCL), dedicated to Chattogram region, is able to consume only around 330 mmcfd LNG with the existing pipeline.
Petrobangla has so far imported around 1.0 million cubic metre of lean LNG through seven vessels, said the official.
It currently has a schedule to import three LNG cargoes every month, each carrying around 140,000 cubic metres.
The state entity imported the latest LNG cargo from RasGas on November 21.
Officials said the Excellence arrived at Moheshkhali terminal carrying the country's first LNG on April 24.
But it got connected to the subsea pipeline network on August 05, and commenced injecting the first regasified gas on August 12.
Technical issues and rough seas during the June-August south-western monsoon kept it stranded off the south coast of Chattogram for months.

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