FSRU gas supply to nat'l grid rises to 450 mmcfd

CHATTOGRAM: Gas supply to the national grid from the maiden floating LNG import terminal in the deep sea rose to its maximum capacity on Tuesday morning as the pipeline started receiving 450 million cubic feet of gas a day.

The gas supply to different regions from the national grid will boost up production in factories, gas-based power plants and fertiliser factories, domestic holdings and garment manufacturing units resulting in a positive impact on the overall national economy.

With the enhanced supply the country is now getting gas for all regions including the capital Dhaka from the national grid in a limited scale alongside the natural gas available from the local gas fields.

The natural gas supplied earlier to the Chattogram region has also been added to Dhaka and rest of the country from the national grid.

Chattogram, a long-time gas-hungry region, will be the most beneficiary of the FSRU gas supply as most of the major industries and the thriving special industrial and economic zones are located in the region.

It took as long as seven months after commissioning of the Floating, Storage and Re-gasification Unit (FSRU) located at Moheshkhali island of Cox's Bazar to get supply of the re-gasified LNG from the import terminal having 500 million cubic feet of gas a day (mmcfd), sources concerned said.

Sources in the Karnaphuli Gas Distribution Co Ltd (KGDCL) said trial supply of 450 mmcfd of gas for two days was successful before full scale commissioning by authority in the Petrobangla.

Sources said that the supply from the FSRU was disrupted due to leakage in the submersed gas pipeline between the City Gate Station (CGS) near the CUFL fertiliser factory at Anwara and the Fouzderhat CGS at Sitakunda.

For supply of the re-gasified LNG the authority concerned constructed a 91- kilometre pipeline between Moheshkhali and Anwara and another 30- kilometre pipeline between Anwara and Fouzderhat.

Earlier, the actuator valve in between the FSRU and the sub-sea pipeline also surfaced leakage in the first week of November last resulting in the total halt to the re-gasification at the Excelerate Energy's terminal, sources said.

The KGDCL, dedicated to the Chattogram region, was receiving only 170 to 180 million cubic feet of gas per day (mmcfd), far less than it used to get before termination of re-gasification at the LNG import terminal, sources said.

Production in the gas-fired power plants of Raozan 210 megawatt x 2, Shikalbaha 225 MW, Shikalbaha 150 MW power plants and Chittagong Urea Fertiliser Ltd (CUFL) in Chattogram was suspended following the damage in the underwater pipeline valve.

The KGDC official said after repairing the pipeline the gas supply resumed in a limited scale ranging between 210 and 230 mmcfd. So the authority could not supply gas to the national grid as expected.

Chattogram was the worst sufferer from gas shortage as the gas-hungry industries have been suffering from short supply. The domestic burners ran dry for a long time while commercial enterprises also suffered for years.

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