Dhaka gas crisis likely to ease further from Thursday

UNB, Dhaka :

The Bibiyana gas field may add 70 million cubic feet of gas per day (MMCFD) by Thursday morning to further ease the nagging gas crisis in the capital.

The Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources in a statement on Wednesday said this expressing its gratitude to the consumers for their patience during the crisis.

Currently, the Bibiyana gas field is producing 1100 MMCFD gas against its capacity of 1200 MMCFD. 

The ministry also informed that measures are being taken to resolve the crisis as an LNG cargo with 2950 MMCFD will reach the Chattogram port by Thursday morning. 

Earlier the ministry had informed that the Bibiyana gas field’s production would be normalized by Tuesday evening. But it’s now taking more time.  

The country’s gas production drastically fell by about 450 MMCFD (million cubic feet per day) on Sunday, the very first day of Ramadan, following a technical fault developed in the Bibiyana gas field.

The supply situation started improving from Monday afternoon as production resumed at one of the two affected process trains at the gas field.

Officials said the gas field process system noticed that sand was coming out from two production wells which forced the authorities concerned to halt the production of the wells.

The incident had a big impact on the overall gas production as many areas experienced disruptions following the fall in the pressure of gas supply as an outcome of the fault.

Consumers in many areas in the capital including Mohammadpur, Shekhertek, Rayerbazar, Dhanmondi, Shankar, Kanthalbagan, Mudhubazar, Kalabagan, Rampura, Wari, Maghbazar, Arambagh, Fakirapul, Banasree, Gopibagh, Mirpur, and Iskatan complained that they are not getting gas for cooking their meals.

The major impact was on the power generation as the state-owned Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) had to shut down a good number of power plants immediately which led to load shedding at different districts across the country.