LNG re-gasification reaches capacity level

Bangladesh has augmented re-gasification of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to its full capacity recently to meet mounting demand for the fuel in the power plants amid ongoing heat waves.

The re-gasification of the imported energy reached its highest-ever level at around 1,101 million cubic feet (mmcf) on Monday since starting its imports on April 24, 2018, official data reveals.

The country's overall electricity generation hovered around 15,000 megawatts (MWs) during the evening peak hours over the past one week, according to National Load Dispatch Centre (NLDC) of state-owned Power Grid Company of Bangladesh Ltd (PGCB).

Both the floating, storage and re-gasification units (FSRUs) - owned by US' Excelerate Energy and local Summit Group - are now operational with a combined capacity of 1,100 mmcfd achieved through their recent overhauling, a senior official of the Energy and Mineral Resources Division (EMRD) said.

Mild to moderate heat waves is currently sweeping across the country and it may continue further, according to the weather report of the Bangladesh Meteorological Department (BMD) on Thursday.

Bangladesh's overall natural gas supply is currently hovering around 3.11 billion cubic feet per day (Bcfd), including 1,001 mmcfd of regasified LNG, according to Petrobangla data as on Thursday.

With the declining domestic natural gas reserves and output, and limited LNG re-gasification capacity, the country is struggling to increase its overall natural gas supply to meet the demand for power plants, industries and other consumers, market insiders have said.

Despite the highest-ever LNG re-gasification, a couple of dozen gas-fired power plants are now kept shut due to the supply shortage.

Petrobangla is currently supplying around 1,244 mmcfd of gas to power plants against their overall demand for 2,316 mmcfd.

Industries are getting less than expected gas with low pressure, businessmen alleged.

[email protected]