United News of Bangladesh

Gas supply in areas under Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution PLC, including Dhaka and its adjoining districts, has experienced a severe pressure drop that is expected to continue for more than 24 hours, the company said on Sunday. In a statement, Titas said one of the floating terminals supplying liquefied natural gas (LNG) remains temporarily shut down due to maintenance work. The suspension of one terminal has significantly reduced the volume of regasified LNG being fed into the national grid, leading to a sharp decline in supply pressure across Titas-served areas. As a result, consumers in Dhaka and nearby districts are facing acute low gas pressure. Titas authorities said residential, commercial and industrial consumers will continue to experience low gas pressure at the end-user level until 12:00am on February 16. Gas supply is expected to gradually return to normal once maintenance work at the LNG terminal is completed, the company said, expressing regret for the temporary inconvenience caused to customers.

Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Company Limited on Wednesday said gas pressure will remain severely low in several areas of Narayanganj and Munshiganj for 21 hours due to replacement work on a damaged transmission pipeline. According to a notice, the disruption will occur from 10:00pm on Thursday to 7:00pm on Friday, as a damaged 20-inch diameter gas transmission pipeline inside the Adamjee EPZ — including the crossing over the Shitalakshya River — is being replaced. During this period, all existing consumer connections in Narayanganj, Panchabati, Muktarpur, Munshiganj, Jinjira, and Shyampur (BSCIC) areas on the west bank of the Shitalakshya River will experience severe low gas pressure. Gas supply may also be disrupted in some adjacent areas, the notice said. Titas Gas authorities apologized for the temporary inconvenience caused to consumers.

Vast areas in the capital and its outskirts may experience low pressure in gas supply for 12 hours from Wednesday to Thursday. According to Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution PLC, due to urgent maintenance work at its Aminbazar DRS, there may be low gas pressure from 6 pm  on Wednesday (April 2) to 6 am on Thursday (April 3) at in the areas in Dhaka Metropolitan including Aminbazar, Mirpur, both sides of Mirpur Road, Shyamoli, Adabor, Agargaon, Mohammadpur, Lalmatia, Dhanmondi, Hazaribagh, Kamrangirchar, Keraniganj (from Kholamura to Kalatia, Hazratpur), Hatirpool, Farmgate, Azimpur, New Market, Lalbagh, Shahbagh, and surrounding areas. Consumers may face low gas pressure in Dhaka Tuesday, Wednesday The similar low pressure will prevail in Savar and Hemayetpur areas in the outskirts of the capital. The authorities sincerely apologise for the temporary inconvenience, said the Titas Gas PLC.

Consumers in vast areas around the capital may experience low gas pressure for 24 hours, from Tuesday to Wednesday. According to Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution PLC, due to urgent tie-in work at GTCL's off-transmission point, low gas pressure may prevail in the Titas Gas-affiliated areas of Joydevpur, Tongi, Chandra, Konabari, Ashulia, Savar, Dhamrai, Manikganj, and adjacent areas. This will occur for a total of 24 hours, from 8 am on Tuesday (April 1) to 8 am on Wednesday (April 2). Titas Gas authorities have apologised to their customers for the temporary inconvenience.

Industries in Dhaka, Gazipur and Narayanganj continue to be afflicted by an acute gas crisis, even though Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Company, the state-owned distributor of natural gas, claims the situation has improved. As reported in the media previously, garments and textiles firms in the industrial belt of these central districts have been suffering from an acute gas crisis for the last few months. “The factories are in dire straits,” a top top-level manager of a group of textile factories in Gazipur told UNB. Most of the industries in Gazipur do not get adequate supply of gas during their operational periods, the most crucial hours during which their machines need to be running. Inadequate supply manifests in the form of low pressure gas flow, he added. FBCCI urges for strengthening oil, gas exploration to ensure uninterrupted supply to industries Low pressure gas flow is akin to low voltage electricity - many appliances won't run, even though an electric charge is present. The textiles group official said that due to the lack of gas supply, production in various factories is being disrupted and they are on the verge of shutting down. In the ongoing gas crisis, important machines like generators and broilers in the dyeing section of the factories are not being run. This has been posing a great risk for the industries to continue their production and pushing them towards huge financial losses. “Many industries would not be able to pay the salaries and festival bonuses during the coming Eid if the situation does not improve,” said an industry owner. Industry insiders said there are more than 300 factories in Kaliakoir and other areas in Gazipur. All these industries have been suffering from the nagging gas crisis and some of them have already suspended their productions. 100% percent prepaid gas meters within four years: Nasrul Hamid Each of the industries has more than 1000 workers. But following the gas crisis, they have to reduce their production target while some of them use CNG at a higher cost to continue their operations. A similar situation is prevailing in the Mirpur, Tongi and Narayanganj areas, said Mohammad Hatem, Executive President, of Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA). He said that despite increasing the price, the government is not able to provide adequate gas. “Production in garment factories has come down to half due to non-availability of gas. Many buyers meanwhile are pushing for air shipments as the normal schedule for shipments has failed in keeping the commitment,” he said adding, some buyers are asking for discounts on the rates. More gas likely to be found in Sylhet’s Kailashtila field: Nasrul “Some customers are upset and cancel the order in such a situation,” he noted. Recently the Bangladesh Chamber of Industries (BCI) has also alleged that no industry in the country is able to run at its full potential due to the gas crisis. A Bangladesh Chamber Of Industries delegation, led by its president Anwar-ul Alam Chowdhury (Parvez), raised the allegation when it met Industries Minister Nurul Majid Mahmud Humayun at his ministry office. The lone chamber for industries said the prices of electricity and gas were increased on the pretext of increasing prices on the international market in the hope that the government would ensure their continuous supply. “But despite the declining trend of energy prices in the international market, it is being heard that the prices of electricity and gas will be increased again,” BCI said in a statement. Read more: Govt okays import of LNG cargo from Singaporean firm to meet gas demand It demands for a sustainable solution to the problem. “If a long term plan is given to the industrial sector in terms of power and gas supply, it can move forward accordingly." Titas Gas general manager Arpana Islam admitted the gas crisis. But she claimed that the situation has improved to some extent recently following measures to increase the gas supply. She advised to talk to Petrobangla when asked whether there is any possibility in near future to further improve the gas supply situation. Petrobangla official statistics reveal that in the last one month the total gas supply across the country has increased by just 100 million cubic feet per day (MMCFD) or so, leaving a deficit between production and supply of about 1500 mmcfd. The Petrobangla data shows that on February 16 it produced 2671 mmcfd gas including its import from abroad against a demand for more than 4000 mmcfd. The TItas Gas data also shows that about 30 power plants now remained out of operation due to gas shortage. Read more: BNP denounces move to double monthly rent for prepaid gas meters