The gas crisis in the country is not ending. More than one-third of the demand is not available. As a result, the shortage of demand and supply is not going away anytime soon. Industrial production capacity has decreased due to the existing crisis. For most of the day, many households do not have gas stoves burning.
This crisis of gas is having a negative impact on the overall economy and people’s life amid the increase in the price of daily necessities. A large-scale increase in local gas supply to meet the shortfall cannot be done soon. Again, due to the shortage of cash, the import of gas (LNG) from abroad cannot be increased. In such a situation, the government is giving priority to increasing the supply of gas to industrial and fertilizer factories and power plants as much as possible.
According to the related sources, most of the factories in Dhaka city, Savar, Gazipur, Ashulia, Narayanganj, Munshiganj, Chittagong and other areas are closed for many hours of the day due to insufficient pressure of gas. Apart from this, many places including Tikatuli, Jatrabari, Mohammadpur, Mirpur, Dhanmondi, Hatirpool, Old Dhaka, Shyora, Rampura in the capital are not getting gas for a large part of the day. Even if gas is found somewhere, its pressure is low. People with limited income are struggling to use alternative methods of cooking, ie LPG, kerosene stoves and electric stoves.
Petrobangla Director (Operation) Engineer Md. Kamruzzaman Khan said, ‘Due to shortage in supply, gas cannot be distributed to customers as per demand. There is a shortage of production in the country. Again, due to the increase in the price in the global market, we have now stopped the import of LNG from the open market. Gas is being imported under long-term contracts. He said, ‘We are planning to increase both domestic production and imports. New cup drilling and gas field exploration is underway.
An official of Titus Gas Company, which is in charge of gas supply in Dhaka and its surrounding districts, said that against the daily demand of 2,200 cubic feet of gas, Titus has only 150,000 cubic feet. 700 cubic feet of gas has to go on with the crisis.
According to Petrobangla sources, the country now has 10.63 trillion cubic feet (TCF) of recoverable gas reserves. The daily gas demand is about 4 billion cubic feet. In contrast, the supply is about 2.6 billion cubic feet. That is, there is a shortfall in gas supply of 1.4 billion cubic feet per day, which is more than one-third of the total demand. Current supply is 816 million cubic feet against the power sector demand of 2,250 million cubic feet. The daily demand of gas in the fertilizer plant is 320 million cubic feet. Supply is 316 million cubic feet. Although there is a demand of 600 million cubic feet of gas in households, more than 350 million cubic feet cannot be supplied.
After an event in the capital on Monday, State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid said that the purchase of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Kholabazar has been stopped. So there is a shortage in supply. Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) is an alternative fuel to gas in households. Now the main focus is to increase gas supply to industries and power plants. If electricity is produced from LNG, the cost is higher and if electricity is produced from gas, the cost is reduced.
