Severe gas shortage hits consumers nationwide

 Petrobangla, the state-owned oil and gas company, failed to take any decision on Thursday regarding the proper distribution and allocation of gas among its stakeholders even though all its seven categories of consumers are facing a severe crisis. Not only are they not getting adequate supplies of gas, there has been a drop in pressure in the pipelines over the past one week. The top brass of the power and energy divisions are currently abroad. In their absence, Petrobangla’s acting chairman, Md Kamruzzaman, called an emergency meeting on Thursday, but the company failed to reach any conclusion as no one agreed to reduce some of its present consumption so that supplies could be increased elsewhere.
“We had a meeting, but could not commit anything regarding diversion of gas supply from the power division to domestic consumers,” a senior Power Division official said.
Power generation, gas pumps and many industrial units have also been hit hard by the gas crisis, which has been caused by a sharp drop in pressure. Gas burners in many areas of the capital have received poor or no supply of gas over the last few days.
Saver Bazar and surrounding areas are getting supply at a pressure level of 10-15 pounds per square inch (PSI) against the required demand of 50 PSI. The situation in Narayanganj-Shiddhirganj is worse than Dhaka, according to Gas Transmission Company Ltd. 
“The power sector demand is 1,380 mmcf and the fertilizer sector needs 280 mmcf of gas to produce fertilizers. Petrobangla supplies around 50 mmcfd gas to the Urea Fertilizer Factory and the Palash Urea Fertilizer Factory against their combined demand of about 60 mmcfd. There is no specific data about the domestic consumers and CNG and captive power plants,” a Petrobangla official said.
According to the official sources, the present crisis is the result of gas rationing by the state-run Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Company (TGTDC) as it has been receiving 1,450 mmcfd against the demand for 1,900 mmcfd.
TGTDC has sought an additional 150 mmcfd gas from Petrobangla to ease the prevailing gas shortage in households, but it has been unable to take any decision.
There is a severe shortage of compressed natural gas (CNG) in the capital. As a result, many CNG vehicle owners, including car owners and auto-rickshaw drivers, are forced to stand in long queues at fuel stations inside and outside the metropolitan areas. 
There are 12 CNG outlets in the city and its surrounding areas. Each outlet requires 220-300 PSI pressure level to run it properly, but the gas distribution companies could not supply the required pressure level.
The shortage in gas supply has also forced city-dwellers to seek alternative ways of cooking. 
Almost 42 per cent of Bangladesh’s daily gas production goes to fuel power stations. Eleven power stations with a capacity of 942 MW were shut down due to dwindling gas supplies during peak hours on Thursday.
Meanwhile, the agriculture ministry has refused to cut any gas supply to the fertilizer sector as the government needs more urea for the upcoming boro season, the Petrobangla official said.
Power Development Board (PDB) member Jalal Uddin Ahmed Chowdhury said that they are unable to produce around 1,074 MW of electricity due to the gas crisis. Moreover, all the gas-fired power plants in Chittagong’s areas remained closed due to the gas shortage.
“We are receiving around 950 mmcfd of gas now. Supplies were around 1,050 mmcfd during the Ramadan,” he said.
BPDB produces 3,800 MW of power from gas while 1,900 MW of electricity comes from the fuel-fired plants.
According to Petrobangla, its present production is around 2,300 mmcf of gas per day, which is 500 mmcf less than the regular demand.

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