Bangladesh Suspends New Gas Connections for Industries Amid Worsening Crisis

The gas crisis in Bangladesh has led to a decision by the government to suspend new gas connections for industries until further notice. The country's domestic gas production has been declining, with an average output of over 150 million cubic feet per day less than previous years. Imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) have not been able to make up the shortfall.

The shortage has affected power generation and industrial production regularly, while demand for gas continues to rise. As a result, the government has decided to halt new connections for industries until supply can be increased.

The Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources sent a letter to Petrobangla in July stating that domestic gas fields are declining in production. LNG imports are also constrained due to infrastructure limitations, with only two floating storage and regasification units (FSRU) available, which have a combined capacity of 1.1 billion cubic feet per day.

However, one of the FSRUs is currently out of operation, reducing supply to less than 500 million cubic feet per day. The government has been working on several alternatives to increase gas supply quickly, including bringing gas from Bhola to Dhaka and importing LNG from Malaysia using ISO tanks.