Bangladesh to experience gas shortage until mid-January

The supply of liquified natural gas (LNG) is set to be disrupted for one and a half months after a mooring line of a Floating Storage and Regasification Unit snapped in the Bay of Bengal.

The disruption is likely to cause a "mild shortage" of gas, the Ministry of Power, Energy, and Mineral Resources said in a statement on Wednesday.

The imported liquefied natural gas could not be transferred from one vessel to another because of the accident, the ministry said. The supply chain has been disrupted as a result.

The ministry hopes that the issue will be resolved by Jan 15, 2022. It also requested consumers to be economical in their gas consumption. 

According to Petrobangla, 2,970 million cubic feet of gas was supplied on Nov 30, compared to 3025 million cubic feet on Nov 15.

There has been a slight shortage of gas in some areas after the incident but the situation is still tolerable, said Mirza Mahbub Hossain, spokesman of Titas Gas.

The authorities will examine the damaged line in a laboratory to determine the cause of the breakage, according to an official of state-owned Transformed Natural Gas Company Limited. A new line may be used to replace the damaged one.

Officials of Petrobangla's LNG branch could not be reached for comment.