A key pipeline carrying RLNG from Moheshkhali Island was damaged on Tuesday afternoon, exacerbating the country’s gas supply shortage.
Following the incident, the authorities had to reduce liquefied natural gas (LNG) re-gasification of Excelerate Energy’s now lone operable FSRU by approximately 63 per cent to 225 mmcfd from the regular production of 607 mmcfd, according to officials.
According to Petrobangla’s official figures, the country’s overall natural gas output has dropped to roughly 2,230 mmcfd from around 2,600 mmcfd the day before.
The country’s two floating storage and re-gasification units (FSRUs) are expected to produce approximately 1,100 million cubic feet of RLNG per day (mmcfd). However, one of Summit Group’s remains inoperable after being hit and destroyed by Cyclone Remal.
The 30-kilometer 42-inch Anowara-Fouzdarhat RLNG-carrying pipeline was damaged when it was hit by a soil test rig operated by a Chinese firm, First Harbour Consultant Ltd (FHCL), at Majherchor on the bank of the Karnaphuli River in Chattogram, according to a senior official at the state-owned Gas Transmission Company Ltd (GTCL).
“We identified a porous in the pipeline Tuesday afternoon and subsequently squeezed LNG re-gasification from the currently operational FSRU at Moheshkhali island in the Bay of Bengal and stopped gas flow to the pipeline,” Petrobangla director for operations and mines Kamruzzaman Khan told the FE Wednesday.
The pipeline is dedicated to carrying RLNG to the country’s western parts, including the capital Dhaka, he added.
Sources said the FHCL has been assigned by another Chinese company – China Road Bridge Construction Ltd (CRBCL) – to carry out soil tests and build a jetty on the Karnaphuli River.
“But neither the CRBCL nor the FHCL had contacted the GTCL before carrying out the soil tests with the rig there,” the GTCL official alleged.
The Chinese firms were working there to build the jetty to be used by the China Economic Zone now being developed there, the GTCL official said.
“We have started working on depressurising the damaged pipeline before carrying out the repair work,” he said.
It would take at least a couple of days to repair the pipeline laid 5-6 feet below the ground, said the GTCL official.
Bangladesh has been grappling with lower RLNG supply, affecting power generation, hampering industrial output, and mounting suffering to all consumers especially in the RMG industry.