Gas Crisis Lingers Despite LNG Supply Recovery
Bangladesh's liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply has recovered after both floating terminals at Maheshkhali resumed operations. However, the gas crisis is unlikely to ease significantly as LNG send-out remains at around 70% capacity for at least a week.
The combined LNG send-out is expected to be around 750-800 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd), which is still short of the estimated daily demand of about 3,800 mmcfd. This will put pressure on electricity generation as gas-fired power plants are unlikely to generate at full capacity.
According to Power Grid Bangladesh's forecast, only around 15,500-16,000 megawatts (MW) of power generation is expected to be available against the peak demand of around 17,500 MW this week. The country has around 29,500 MW of installed generation capacity, but much of it is unavailable due to fuel constraints and maintenance issues.
The two floating storage and regasification units (FSRU) are operating at reduced capacity, with Summit's terminal supplying around 500 mmcfd and Excelerate Energy-operated FSRU supplying up to 300 mmcfd. The Excelerate terminal was shut down for repair after a July 21 fire incident and is expected to continue repair work until Wednesday.