Port city reels from abrupt gas outage

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.

The glitch occurred during recommissioning of the LNG terminal which had been under maintenance for about two and a half months, according to sources in Petrobangla.

Officials concerned said the supply is likely to resume by noon today.

Two floating liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals in Moheshkhali, having a capacity of 500 mmcfd each, are run by Summit Group and Excelerate Energy of the United States.

"A technical glitch may occur any time but there should be a backup arrangement to deal with an emergency situation." Prof Sanaul Rabbi

— Head of the Department of Petroleum and Mining Engineering of CUET

Gas was being supplied to Chattogram city and its adjoining areas from the floating terminal operated by Summit Group since November 1 last year when maintenance work of the other terminal began. This led to reduction in supply, leaving the city dwellers in dismay.

Mumu Ghosh, a resident of Askar Dighir Par area, was at a loss as to how she would cook food for her three-year-old baby on Thursday night.

She waited till midnight hoping the gas supply would resume.

"As my baby started crying with hunger, my husband went out to buy food. But all the restaurants nearby were shut by then," Mumu said.

They fed their child around 1:00am only after Mumu's mother, a resident of Jamal Khan area, cooked food using an induction cooker and sent it.

Mumu said they have been suffering from a shortage of gas supply since mid-October.

Ali Abbas, a resident of Alkaran area, said when the gas supply stopped on Thursday morning, they thought it was the usual problem that they had been facing since October.

"But when the supply halted at 9:00pm after a brief resumption, we thought something was wrong."

Regretting that the authorities hardly look into their plight, he said, "We pay fixed monthly bills for gas, but we don't have the supply."

The impact extended to local restaurants which saw people queuing up for food. A lot of them had to return home empty handed as the eateries could not meet the increased demand.

"I visited three restaurants in Anderkilla area but could not buy food. Now I am going to Chawkbazar to see if I can have some food," said Debashish Chakraborty, a resident of Momin Road area.

The businesses and industries in and around Chattogram city were hit as well. Staffers at CNG filling stations sat idle for hours as they could not serve the vehicles.

Long queues of CNG-run auto-rickshaws and other vehicles were seen before the filling stations since midnight on Thursday.

"I have been in a queue for about eight hours but I have yet to refill my vehicle," said Md Forkan, driver of an auto-rickshaw, in Kadamtoli area yesterday morning.

The LNG terminal, run by Excelerate Energy, had been under maintenance for two and a half months, said Shafiul Azam Khan, general manager (engineering service) of Karnaphuli Gas Distribution Company Limited (KGDCL).

"As the maintenance work was completed about three days ago, the terminal was being recommissioned on Thursday night. But this was not possible due to a technical glitch."

Asked why the other floating terminal was not in operation, Shafiul said it was turned off for preparation of maintenance works.

Rafiqul Islam, managing director of Rupantorito Prakritik Gas Company Limited (RPGCL), said works were going on to fix the technical glitch.

"We hope gas supply will resume by tomorrow [today]," he told The Daily Star.

Prof Sanaul Rabbi, head of the Department of Petroleum and Mining Engineering at Chittagong University of Engineering and Technology (CUET), said a technical glitch may occur any time but there should be a backup arrangement to deal with an emergency situation.

"If an alternative source of gas was there, such a crisis could have been averted," he said.