Rough weather in Bay disrupts operations

Liquefied natural gas (LNG) unloading and re-gasification has come under nature's wrath again as at least a couple of LNG-carrying vessels failed to complete ship-to-ship transfer of the fuel to floating storage and re-gasification units (FSRUs) due to rough weather in the Bay of Bengal.

State-run Petrobangla kept the vessels anchored at the pilot boarding station (PBS), some 10-12 kilometres from the FSRU, for safety reasons, its Chairman Md Rezanur Rahman told The Financial Express Thursday.

One of the vessels, carrying fuel from Oman's OQ Trading, could transfer around 85 per cent of the LNG to one of the FSRUs on the Moheshkhali Island in the Bay of Bengal until May 27 midnight when the weather started to become rough, he said.

The vessel subsequently left the FSRU station for the PBS with the remaining 15 per cent of the LNG on board and was kept anchored there for safety reasons.

Another vessel carrying LNG from Gunvor Singapore Pte Ltd had reached near the FSRUs during the early hours on May 28 but was taken to the nearby PBS without transferring any LNG due to turbulent sea weather, Mr Rahman said.

Two more vessels are, however, still on schedule and expected to arrive within next week. Of those, one cargo from Vitol Asia Pte Ltd is set to reach FSRU on June 1 and another from Gunvor on June 5, he said.

"We did not cancel these LNG cargoes yet," said the Petrobangla chairman.

The volume of the LNG cargoes is around 3.36 million British thermal units (MMBtu) and they are expected to be delivered to the Moheshkhali Island, with the option to discharge it at either of the two FSRUs located there.

"We are expecting to complete ship-to-ship transfer of the LNG to the FSRUs from both the stranded vessels by May 31 when the weather is expected to be better," Mr Rahman said.

Petrobangla could not keep its commitment to supply additional gas to the tune of around 150 million cubic feet per day from May 28 due to the bad weather, he lamented.

The low over the Northwest Bay and the adjoining area intensified into a depression over the same area, according to official data of Bangladesh Meteorological Department (BMD).

It is likely to move nearly northwards and intensify further, the BMD forecast stated on Thursday.

The country's overall natural gas production is set to dip further due to the inclement weather. The overall natural gas output is currently hovering around 2,600 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd), according to official Petrobangla data as of Thursday, which is down by 1.88 per cent from 2,650 mmcfd on May 27. LNG re-gasification squeezed to 729 mmcfd as of Thursday from 781 mmcfd on May 27, according to official Petrobangla data.

Market insiders said Bangladesh's key LNG infrastructure faced nature's wrath in monsoon last year too, when one of the country's two floating LNG terminals was damaged during Cyclone Remal in late May.

Cyclone Mocha in 2023 also hampered LNG imports and re-gasification, affecting power generation, hampering industrial output, and creating difficulties for all gas-guzzling consumers. This monsoon's weather is not as bad as the past years yet, said Mr Rahman.

He, however, warned that if the weather condition deteriorates, the LNG vessels as well as the FSRUs could be taken to much safer places in the deep sea, hampering LNG imports and re-gasification.

Azizjst@yahoo.com