The port city has been facing the gas crisis for over two and a half months, with no signs of relief from the acute shortage. The situation has been exacerbated by a daily shortfall of approximately 40 million cubic feet (mmcf) against the demand.
The daily allocation for Chattogram has been brought down from 320mmcf to 280mmcf due to a shortage of gas supply from the LNG terminal at Maheshkhali in Cox's Bazar.
Karnaphuli Gas Distribution Company Limited (KGDCL) has to supply gas to Chittagong Urea Fertilizer Limited (CUFL) and Karnaphuli Fertilizer Company Limited (KAFCO) in Chattogram for the production of fertiliser.
According to KGDCL sources, 75mmcf gas, out of 280mmcf, is being supplied to two fertiliser plants -- CUFL and KAFCO. Besides this, 33mmcf gas is being supplied to power plants and 12mmcf gas to CNG-refuelling stations. The rest of the gas goes to homes and other industries.
The gas supply to the CNG-refuelling stations has come to a halt since October 20 last year. After 11:00pm, some CNG-refuelling stations could supply gas for only one or two hours while almost all the CNG-refuelling stations in Chattogram remained closed on the day.
As a result, the long lines of vehicles are seen at the CNG-refuelling stations in the port city every night.
Two fertiliser factories in Chattogram are fully operational at this time to meet the demand for fertilisers in the agriculture sector, said a KGDCL official, preferring anonymity.
The KGDCL has to supply gas to these two plants for the continuous production of fertiliser. This is one of the causes of the gas crisis in Chattogram.
The sources said two floating storage and re-gasification units (FSRUs) developed for Petrobangla and Summit Group in Moheshkhali Island in the Bay of Bengal are able to produce 1,000 million cubic feet of gas daily, having the capacity of 500 million cft each.
Meanwhile, the LNG production in the two floating plants has declined to 500 million cft a day due to technical problems in one of two FSRUs on October 20 last. Both the FSRUs need proper maintenance after five years of installation.
Engineer Md Shah Alam, general manager of LNG Division of Converted Natural Gas Company Limited (CNGC), said, "According to the international rules, the floating LNG terminals should be sent to dry docks after five years. We have sent our LNG Terminal Accelerate Energy Bangladesh Limited of the United States very late. The terminal is expected to be back by the end of this month. Then the next terminal will be sent to dry dock after returning the first terminal. After returning the second terminal from Dry Dock in March next, the gas crisis is likely to be solved after March."
KGDCL General Manager (Engineering Services Department) Engineer Shafiul Azam Khan said, "In our gas distribution, electricity and fertiliser lines are separate among the three lines. But, residential and industrial have only one line. Therefore, even if the same amount of gas is supplied to industries and residences for the time being, the pressure remains low."
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