Power outage risks rise as Petrobangla unable to boost gas supply

FHM Humayan KabirbrPetrobangla will not be able to boost supply of gas to the gas-starved inoperative or partly operative power units during the month of Ramadan, which might cause further load-shedding, an official said.brThe sate-owned oil, gas and mineral corporation - Petrobangla - supplies only around 660-million cubic feet of gas per day (MMCFD) to the gas-fired power stations against the demand for nearly 850 MMCFD, a senior Petrobangla official said.brPoor gas supply has forced the state-owned power generating entity - Power Development Board (PDB) - to close at least four gas-fired power units leading to severe load-shedding across the country for last few months, PDB officials said.brPetrobangla does not have capacity at this moment to supply additional gas to the power stations, Petrobangla chairman Jalal Ahmed told the FE Tuesday.brWe've decided to suspend gas supply to some industries in Megnaghat area from 500pm to 1100pm every day. It will save around one MMCFD of gas per hour. This will help generate 80MW additional power, he said.br Earlier, we requested the BCIC (Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation) to temporarily suspend operation of Zia Fertiliser Factory in September. But the BCIC refused. This has put us in difficulties for supplying additional gas to the power units, the chairman said.brMr. Ahmed said We have been supplying nearly 660 MMCFD to the power plants from early August. We've asked the gas distributing companies to supply at least the said amount of gas in September too.brIf the fertiliser plant remains closed, we could be able to supply additional 52MMCFD of gas to the power plants in September for generating more electricity, he said.brHowever, the industrialists in the Meghnaghat areas, where nearly 30 production units are situated, protested the decision on suspension of gas supply during 5pm to 11pm.brIt is an irony that when the government strives to curb prices of essential commodities during Ramadan it puts barriers on smooth production of essentials like edible oil, sugar, pulse, salt and poultry feed industry, said Mostafa Kamal, Managing Director of Meghna Group of Industries. brThe decision will hamper the smooth production of some essential commodities, which will also create ne1gative impact on the supply and price situation, Mr Kamal added. brPDB chairman Md. Showkat Ali said We need increased gas supply. If Petrobangla can raise gas supply to our power plants, total electricity generation will increase. brBangladesh has a demand for more than 1900MMCFD of gas per day. But the total gas generation at this moment is nearly 1800MMCFD.brThe gas supply shortage has cut the electricity generation by nearly 600MW a day, a PDB official said.brThe operative power units are generating around 3500MW per day against the demand for more than 4500MW daily.brDue to gas shortage we have shut down at least four power units having nearly 300MW generation capacity. Moreover, some 10 units are generating less electricity than their capacity due to the same problem, the official told the FE.brThe 210MW unit at Rauzan power plant, 40MW unit at Shikalbaha, 96MM combine capacity of three units in Haripur SBU and 10MW unit at Shahjibazar power plants have remained closed for many days due to gas supply shortage, he said.br