State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Aninda Islam Amit on Monday once again apologised to the public for the ongoing gas crisis, expressing hope that supply will begin to improve from next week, with full restoration expected about a week later.

Speaking to reporters at his office at the Secretariat, he said the government is making every possible effort to resolve the crisis, which has severely affected households, industries and transport services.

"We know homemakers are struggling to cook, industries have had to scale back production, and pressure on CNG stations has disrupted public transport. We sincerely apologise to the people for the hardship," the state minister said.

He said the disruption was not caused by any government agency but stemmed from a problem involving a private operator responsible for ensuring part of the country's gas supply.

"We are working jointly with them around the clock. We cannot provide an immediate solution due to certain limitations. However, our teams are working 24/7 with the company, and we hope the situation will start improving from next week, InshaAllah," Amit said.

Referring to the floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) in Moheshkhali of Cox’s Bazar where the technical fault occurred, he said the facility normally supplies around 500 to 550 million cubic feet of gas per day.

According to information provided by the operator, the state minister said, the FSRU is expected to resume supplying around 280 to 300 million cubic feet of gas per day to the national grid from next week.

"If they can restore about 50 percent of the supply next week, the plan is to return to 100 percent capacity in the following week," he added.