The country’s flagship textiles and readymade garments (RMG) industries are reeling from a crippling gas crisis, threatening an estimated $70 billion in investments amid mounting global trade uncertainty over new US tariffs.
Inadequate gas supply has been forcing Farzana Akter and Rabiul Islam to eat at restaurants every morning for two weeks.
For maintenance work
Looming fertiliser crisis could disrupt food production
Four out of five government-owned urea factories have stopped production due to an acute gas crisis, raising concerns over the availability of enough fertiliser during the ongoing Aman paddy cultivation season and the upcoming Boro paddy season.
Government officials involved have been allowed legal impunity under the provisions of this law.
A two-week-long gas crisis has been affecting homes, factories, and vehicles that run on compressed natural gas, thanks to a dip in supply following the shutdown of an LNG regasification terminal in Cox’s Bazar on May 29.
The government built two compressor stations in 2016 to supply gas at adequate pressure to different districts, but the expensive machinery has been underutilised due to inadequate gas flow.
Gas scarcity is likely to continue till April despite the government’s repeated assurance of scaling up gas supply during Ramadan and the irrigation season as one of the two Floating Storage and Regasification Units (FSRU) will take longer to complete maintenance works.
The highly promising home textile sector of Bangladesh is losing its lustre in the export market as the lingering gas crisis, the volatile exchange rate and the higher production cost are forcing many factories to go out of business.
The persistent gas crisis in Bangladesh has been severely hindering the nation’s ceramics industry over the past three to four months, leading to a roughly 20 percent drop in overall production quality in the sector.
Capacity payments, the scourge of the rapid rise in Bangladesh’s power generation capacity, are set to get higher this year.
With industries suffering from the gas crisis, it might cause the consumers higher price concerns
Says State Minister Nasrul Hamid
Most domestic consumers yet to get gas due to low pressure in the pipeline; authorities say problem will be fixed soon
Bangladesh is going through the worst gas supply shortfall in recent history
Gas supply to Chattogram city remains halted for more than 24 hours from Thursday night due to a technical glitch at a floating LNG terminal in Moheshkhali of Cox’s Bazar, causing profound suffering to the residents, businesses and industries.
Currently, the gas supply stands at approximately 2,500 million standard cubic feet per day (mmcfd), falling short of the demand, which is at 3,800 mmcfd.
The gas supply now is the lowest since April 2020, shows data from Petrobangla -- in a development that informs the acute crisis plaguing the industrial sector as well as households.
