Bangladesh gas supplies improve after LNG terminal restarts

Gas supplies to Bangladesh’s national grid increased on Wednesday after a floating liquefied natural gas terminal operated by U.S.-based Excelerate Energy EE.N partially resumed operations after a fire shut the facility for more than two weeks.

The restart of one regasification unit is adding around 115 million cubic feet of gas a day to the national grid, easing shortages that disrupted power generation, industrial production and household supplies, Petrobangla officials said.

The floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU), anchored off Moheshkhali, was shut down after a July 21 fire damaged electrical cable systems linked to its boiler operations, cutting 450 million cubic feet of gas supply a day.

Bangladesh was already facing a tighter LNG market after Qatar declared force majeure on some cargoes during the Iran conflict, prompting Dhaka to seek alternative supplies amid higher prices and Strait of Hormuz shipping risks.

The Petrobangla officials said the partial restart marked the first phase of restoring the terminal’s full capacity and that gas pressure should improve gradually.

Engineers from Excelerate Energy are continuing repair work while installing replacement equipment imported from overseas.

Excelerate Energy did not immediately respond to a request for comment outside its business hours.

The terminal, one of Bangladesh’s two floating LNG import terminals, typically regasifies 500 million to 550 million cubic feet of LNG per day.

Bangladesh relies on imported LNG to offset declining domestic gas production and meet rising energy demand. The country consumes an estimated 3,800 million to 4,000 million cubic feet of gas per day (mmcfd), but supplies to the national grid typically average around 2,600 mmcfd.