Household Gas Supply: Acute crisis hits many areas in city

Residents of many areas in the capital have been facing an acute gas crisis for the last few weeks due to an inadequate supply of piped gas.

Officials attributed the dearth of supply to the reduced import of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in recent months following a hike in the price of the fossil fuel in the international spot market.

The country needs at least 525 mmcfd of imported LNG a day to keep the gas supply at normal level.

Ali Iqbal Md Nurullah, managing director of Titas Gas, said they were getting less LNG supply by around 200 mmcfd daily.

He said households in some city areas were experiencing supply shortage mainly due to the dearth of LNG supply to gas distribution companies.

Iqbal, however, said household users were not supposed to suffer from low gas pressure.

Titas Gas is the distribution authority of household gas in Dhaka city.

Speaking to The Daily Star on condition of anonymity, a Titas Gas official said the supply of piped gas has been decreasing for the last few years.

"The gas lines in households are designed for supplying gas at 50 psi [pounds per square inch]. For the last few years, gas is available in households at around 10-12 psi," he said.

The official said he was recently receiving information that gas pressure was ranging between 0 and 2 psi in some areas of the capital.

Due to the poor gas pressure, city residents in many areas are finding it difficult to cook food in the morning and afternoon.

Residents of the capital's East Rajabazar, Jigatola, Mohammadpur, Adabar, Bhatara, Badda, Banasree, Mirpur, Pallabi and Gendaria areas complained that they were suffering from a shortage of gas supply.

"For the last two weeks, we cannot use the stove from 7:00am to 4:00pm to cook meals as there is no gas supply during this period," said Sabbir Ahmed from Jigatola.

Falguni Isalm Ria, a homemaker from Ambagan in Moghbazar, said she needs to finish cooking by 11:00am every day before the gas supply dries up.

The supply becomes normal after 3:00pm, she added.

Sujan Takulder from Gandaria said his wife needs to get up from bed very early in the morning to cook meals as gas supply stops around 9:00am every day.

Ahmed Rahian, a resident of South Banashree, said they do not receive gas supply from early morning to noon.

Md Tazul Islam Majumder, director (operation) at Gas Transmission Company Limited (GTCL), said they cannot maintain the load balance if the supply of LNG to them is less than 525 mmcfd per day.

"We didn't have the required LNG supply since last November and therefore, the customers are suffering at places."

Tazul, however, said there were directives from the government to the gas distribution companies to keep the supply for households and fertiliser factories at normal level.

The government also instructed the authorities concerned to reduce gas supply to the power sector temporarily, he added.

Rupantarita Prakritik Gas Company Limited, the state-run agency in charge of LNG imports into Bangladesh, had cancelled its plan to import two shipments of 138,000 cubic metres of LNG each for delivery in November and December last year.

"The LNG gas price in the international block market has recently spiked suddenly. That is why we had to cancel two shipments," said an official of the company.

The Titas Gas MD said they were trying to make the gas supply situation normal by Friday.