Bangladesh's Gas Crisis Worsened by Cancelled Backup Plan

Bangladesh is facing one of its most severe gas supply crises in recent memory. The country's daily demand for gas is approximately 3,800 million cubic feet, but domestic production has been steadily declining since 2017, reaching a record high of around 2,700 million cubic feet per day that year. Today, domestic fields supply only about 1,600 to 1,700 million cubic feet per day.

To address this shortage, the Awami League government began importing liquefied natural gas (LNG) in 2018 through long-term agreements with Qatar Energy, Oman's OQ Trading, and the US-based Excelerate Energy. LNG was converted back into gas through two floating storage and regasification units (FSRUs), operated by Excelerate and Summit Group, which together supply up to 1,050 million cubic feet of gas per day.

However, a fire broke out at the Excelerate-operated FSRU on July 21, forcing it completely out of service. As a result, gas supplied through imported LNG fell from approximately 1,050 million cubic feet per day to only 500 million cubic feet.