Thousands of people in the capital, port city Chittagong and elsewhere in the country faced great hardships for at least 10 hours on Sunday due to massive shortage of gas and power arising from transmission problems at the Bibiana Gas Field. Bibiana Gas Field, which contributes 40 per cent of the country’s total gas production, is operated by US energy giant Chevron. Located in Block 12 in the northeast of Bangladesh in Habiganj, Bibiana produces 830-840 million cubic feet (mmcf) of gas a day against the country’s total daily production of over 2,200 mmcf. However, gas production resumed at Bibiyana Gas Field as authorities repaired the leakage of pipeline on Sunday after toiling hard.
The transmission problem was caused by leakages in the pipeline which was detected on Saturday evening.
Owing to this problem in Bibiana, power production was seriously hampered, resulting in massive power outage in Dhaka and Chittagong. Hundreds of gas stations were temporarily shut down and kitchens of thousands of households and hotels were almost closed during this period.
Apart from Dhaka and Chittagong, Gazipur, Mirzapur, Tangail, Mymensingh, Narsindi and Narayanganj also faced the gas outage.
Chevron, the country’s largest producer of natural gas, says production at Bibiana Gas Field had to be suspended on Saturday evening because of disruption in transmission lines, resulting in disruption of residential and commercial gas supplies.
Titas director (operations) Mir Mashiur Rahman said they spotted the leak in a gasket (joint between two pipes) late on Saturday evening.
Petrobangla chairman Hossain Mansur apologised for long disruption of gas supply on Sunday. He said there was a leakage in the pipeline of Bibiyana that developed around 6:45 pm, disrupting gas supply to the Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Company.
“Many households and factories could not get gas and suffered. I am apologising on behalf of Petrobangla for this inconvenience,” Mansur said.
The Prime Minister’s energy adviser Tawfiq-E-Elahi Chowdhury told the media on Sunday morning that the fault had been successfully repaired and the transmission from Bibiana would be normal by Sunday afternoon.
The capital demands almost 150 MMCFD (million cubic feet per day) gas with 130 MMCFD available on an average. A large portion of the gas comes from the Chevron-run Bibiyana Gas Field.
Some of the gas-based power stations were also shut down due to the paucity of supply, causing power outages in different parts of the country, including the capital. The drivers and owners of automobiles had to return empty-handed from gas-filling stations.
There were complaints of gas supply disruption from Motijheel, Paltan, Press Club, Segun Bagicha, Bailey Road, Badda, Khilgaon, Dhanmondi, Kazipara, Rampura, Moghbazar, Mohakhali, Gendaria, Gulshan, Bonani, Karwan Bazar, Mohammadpur and other parts of the city.
However, the pressure of the gas returned to normal at different parts of the capital when this report was updated around 4 pm.
Until the pipelink leak was repaired and the plant was made operational at 7am, supply had been stopped, Titas director Masiur Rahman said. “But we tried to prioritise supply for the power plants with the gas that remained in the pipeline.”
The Titas official said as a number of power plants was dependent on its gas supply, it was incumbent to prioritize their supply. “I hope there won’t be any serious problem,” he added.
The power production of a unit of the thermal power plant at Rowzan in Chittagong was shut down due to the problem at Bibiyana pipeline.
Though the power production capacity of the unit is 210 megawatt, it generates a maximum of 180 megawatt electricity, as the plant has become old. Unit 2 of the plant was shut down at 2am on Saturday night due to paucity of gas supply, a source said.
“So, we are getting only 55 megawatt electricity from Unit 1, ” he added.
-With The Independent input
