Staff Correspondent

The supply of Liquefied natural gas (LNG) has resumed in Chattogram early Saturday after resolve the technical glitch at a terminal in Moheshkhali under Cox's Bazar around 10.30pm on Friday night.

However, the gas supply will be fully restored to the entire city by noon, said the authorities of Karnaphuli Gas Distribution Company Limited (KGDCL).

Gautam Chandra Kundu, general manager (operation) of KGDCL, said the gas supply from the terminal resumed this morning after engineers fixed the technical glitch in it.

"However, pressure of the gas has not yet reached the expected level. It has been increasing gradually and we expect the domestic consumers to get gas in their burner by noon," he added.

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

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.

Chattogram city dwellers have been facing gas shortage for almost three months. On early Friday, the gas supply suspended suddenly, resulting in acute shortage of gas in the entire port city.

Many of the people have passed the day by having dried food from shops as they could not cook food. Many of them were also found buying food standing in long queues in front of hotels. However, hundreds of them had to go back to their homes in empty hands as food stock got exhausted in many hotels.

Long queues of CNG-run autorickshaws were seen at the CNG filling stations. As there were no CNG-run autorickshaws on roads, hundreds of people were found waiting at crossings in the port city for motor vehicles.

According to Karnaphuli Gas Distribution Company Limited (KGDCL), one of the two floating terminals in Maheshkhali is under renovation since October. Gas supply in the entire Chattogram was suspended when a mechanical fault occurred at a terminal on Thursday night.

A KGDCL official said that such an undesirable situation has occured as there is no scope of supplying gas from any source alternative to the Moheshkhali LNG Terminal in Cox's Bazar. The KGDCL regularly supplies 400-500 mmcfd gas to customers from two floating terminals. But a kind of crisis due to lack of receiving gas supply from the floating terminals, resulting in mounting sufferings for the port city dwellers.

It is learnt that one of the two terminals was taken to Singapore in October last for urgent repair. As a result, gas supply to the port city over the last three months had gone down by 50 per cent. The terminal was brought from Singapore on January 17 last after repair. Gas supply faced major disruption due to mechanical faults during the re-installation of the terminal.

Shikalbaha Power Station, Chattogram Urea Fertiliser Limited and Karnaphuli Fertiliser Company Ltd are considered as the KGDCL's major customers. These three entities require 120-125 mmcfd gas everyday, while 180 mmcfd gas is supplied to household and industrial sectors.

Sources concerned said apart from the suspension of household supply, gas supply to power generating stations, fertiliser factories, industrial units, CNG stations, hotels and restaurants has remained suspended in the port city since Thursday midnight.