RLNG (re-gasified liquefied natural gas) supply to the country's maiden FSRU recommenced on Thursday morning after a 12-day disruption through resolving the glitch in an underwater hydraulic valve.
The gas supply situation improved across the country after the RLNG supply resumed. It also reinitiated electricity generation in several gas-fired power plants, increased gas-pressure in households, and boosted industrial output.
US-based Excelerate Energy's vessel Excellence restarted re-gasifying LNG at around 6:30 am, which reached Chattogram area at around 10:00 am at 100 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd).
Re-gasification increased to around 126 mmcfd at around 12:40 pm.
Supply of RLNG will peak up gradually, Rupantarita Praktritik Gas Company Ltd (RPGCL) Managing Director Md Quamruzzaman told the FE.
Electricity generation at Rauzan and Shikalbaha plants, having a total electricity generation capacity of around 585 megawatts (MW), reinitiated after getting RLNG on Thursday morning, said Karnaphuli Gas Distribution Company Ltd (KGDCL) Managing Director Khaiz Ahmed Mozumder.
More gas-fired power plants and fertiliser factories will be requested to initiate operation after getting more RLNG, he also said.
KGDCL started taking less gas from the national gas-grid after resumption of LNG re-gasification, which improved the overall gas supply in Dhaka and its adjoining areas.
KGDCL, the dedicated gas distributor for Chattogram region and the lone consumer of RLNG, was receiving around 326 mmcfd of gas in the pre-termination period.
It then took around 70 mmcfd of gas from national gas-grid, he also said.
But the halt in re-gasification prompted KGDCL to take as high as around 230 mmcfd of gas, worsening gas supply in the capital and other parts of the country.
Excellence had around 76,000 cubic metres of LNG stored onboard when re-gasification was terminated, said a senior official of Petrobangla.
He said re-gasification will continue until the next LNG vessel reach at Moheshkhali floating LNG terminal, which is scheduled for November 21.
Petrobangla had to cancel two LNG cargoes, each having around 140,000 cubic meter capacity, from the lone supplier Qatar's RasGas due to the outage of re-gasification from the floating terminal on November 3 due to a faulty underwater hydraulic valve.
The 'actuator valve' in between the FSRU (floating, storage, re-gasification unit) and subsea pipeline was leaked then, resulting in total halt of re-gasification at Excelerate Energy's terminal.
The authorities had to shut several gas-fired power plants and a fertiliser factory in the aftermath of the supply halt.
Excelerate Energy's FSRU arrived at Moheshkhali terminal carrying the country's first LNG on April 24.
But it got connected to the subsea pipeline network on August 05, and commenced injecting the first regasified gas on August 12.
Technical issues and rough seas during the June-August south-western monsoon kept it stranded off the south coast of Chattogram for months.
Petrobangla started regular import of LNG from Qatar's RasGas from September 9 after successfully initiating the feeding of RLNG to consumers from August 18.
