Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) supply from the floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) operated by US-based Excelerate Energy at Maheshkhali is set to resume from midnight on Wednesday after emergency repairs restored the terminal to operation.
The terminal had remained shut for more than two weeks following a fire, causing a nationwide gas shortage.
Initially, 100 million cubic feet of gas per day (MMCFD) will be supplied to the national gas grid, with the volume to be increased in phases until the terminal reaches its full regasification capacity of 500 MMCFD.
Engineer Mohammad Nasir Uddin, deputy general manager (LNG) of Rupantarita Prakritik Gas Company Limited (RPGCL), said that all necessary repair work at the terminal had been completed.
“LNG supply will begin from midnight. We will initially inject 100 MMCFD into the national grid and gradually increase the volume to 200 MMCFD, 300 MMCFD and finally 500 MMCFD,” he told TIMES of Bangladesh.
The Excelerate Energy-operated FSRU has remained out of service since 21 July, when a fire broke out at the floating terminal, forcing the suspension of LNG regasification operations and significantly reducing gas supply across the country.
During the outage, Bangladesh relied solely on the second floating LNG terminal operated by Summit Group, which continued supplying around 500 MMCFD to the national grid.
Under normal conditions, the country’s two floating LNG terminals together supply around 1,000 MMCFD of regasified LNG.
The shutdown of one of the country’s two LNG import terminals triggered a nationwide gas shortage, disrupting industrial production, CNG filling stations and household gas supply.
The reduction in gas supply to the national grid by nearly half had a particularly severe impact on industrial zones.
To restore operations, an expert technical team from Singapore carried out emergency repairs at the Maheshkhali terminal. Critical replacement components were flown into Bangladesh and transported to the offshore facility to complete the restoration work.
RPGCL, a subsidiary of Petrobangla, is responsible for importing LNG and overseeing its regasification before supplying it to the national transmission network.
The two floating LNG terminals off Maheshkhali have a combined regasification capacity of about 1,100 MMCFD, making imported LNG a key source of fuel for power generation, industrial production and household gas supply in Bangladesh.
