LNG terminal halts production again

One of the country’s two LNG offshore terminals halted supplies to the national grid on Wednesday afternoon, only about four days after recovering from a major technical glitch that had caused an acute countrywide energy crisis.

The LNG terminal, operated by the US-based Excelerate Energy, halted production around 3pm on Wednesday as its fuel stocks ran out, worsening the country’s continuing energy crisis, said sources at the Petrobangla and Energy Division.

It is worth noting that the country has a daily natural gas demand of 3,800 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd), 2,700 mmcfd of which is supplied to the grid, including 1,100 mmcfd from the two offshore LNG plants.

The two LNG terminals are run by Excelerate Energy and the domestic company Summit Energy off the coast of Moheshkhali in Cox’s Bazar, supplying 600 mmcfd and 500 mmcfd respectively.

Therefore, the production halt at the Excelerate-run LNG terminal trims 600 million cubic feet from the daily supply potential, bringing the total supply to 2,200 mmcfd and incurring a daily supply-demand gap of 1,600 mmcfd.

No new LNG cargo is expected to reach the terminal before 23 August, mounting pressure on the already strained gas market.

The terminal suffered a fire incident on 21 July, and had to undergo lengthy repairs. On 15 August, it resumed operations, but the supplies kept falling owing to diminishing LNG stocks, and the supplies ultimately halted on Wednesday afternoon.

Four cargoes were expected to reach the country this month, but none have arrived as yet, reports claimed.

On Thursday, a new LNG cargo is expected to reach the country, but it is intended for the Summit-run terminal.

Amid the worsening crisis and dwindling supplies, the government on Wednesday approved the direct spot purchase of 14 cargoes from seven companies – unfortunately, none of those are expected to reach the country this month.

The first supply, potentially from Saudi Aramco, will reach the country’s shores on 1-2 September.