No luck, for the citizens from mostly of Dhaka, Narayanganj, Chittagong, Gajipur and other high gas demanding areas as gas crisis will be there in this whole winter. The existing gas crisis will continue throughout the winter or even more as a technical fault was detected recently at the Bibiyana Gas Plant.
The technical defect discovered in the transmission line of Bibiyana gas field, can take up to 2 months or more to be fixed which was initially thought to be solved within 10 days. Moreover, formation of condensate and other obstructive residuals in the inner wall of the gas pipe lines increases in the winter season due to low temperature, narrowing and blocking the natural gas flow.
However, the gas pressure at the consumer end usually stays below the expected mark in most of the times of a year for many reasons. Gas crisis usually increases in the winter and in this winter the gas-burden is just to be worse than ever before.
The gas pressure at the household end is too low now. Cooking becomes impossible as the gas crisis turns mad at the peak hours. Industries are failing to operate and maintain their targeted production due to the low pressure of gas, thus making the production cost higher. The scarcity of gas is also causing unrest in other sectors like CNG fueled transports, gas-powered power plants as well.
Bibiyana is the largest gas field of Bangladesh in terms of production and the supply from that field has been reduced by 50–100 mmcf due to the glitch in their transmission network, claimed the related sources. Titas used to get around 1,700 million cubic feet (mmcf) gas from Bibiyana, but is now getting around 1600 mmcf. Meanwhile, the gas demand during winter has increased by 200–250 mmcf, creating a shortage of around 300–350 mmcf in the supply chain.
On other hand, most of the transmission and distribution pipe lines are outdated. Outdated pipelines are very much prone to get jammed and narrowing. In winter season, natural gas along with other residuals usually tends to condensate within the pipe. As a consequence the gas distribution becomes a nightmare to the authority.
Mir Moshiur Rahman, the managing director of Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Company Limited (TGTDCL), told the Energybangla, “the demand of gas is prevailingly higher than the production and in winter the demand rises to the top edge usually. Unfortunately the production hasn’t increased yet, moreover the largest gas producer field is operating with its full capacity as the technical glitch isn’t solved so far. As a result the gas crisis may prolong the whole winter since the fault needs two months more to be fixed at Bibiyana. ”
Gas Transmission Company Limited (GTCL) tried to maintain the expected pressure by setting up two compressor in 2006 with a cost of TK 1,500 crore at Ashuganj of Brahmanbariya and Elenga of Tangail. However, GTCL sources have claimed that, the two compressors started their operation in 2014 but failed to provide expected pressure.