Daily life of the city dwellers has been severely disrupted in many areas of Dhaka and its outskirts areas during the Ramadan because of sudden fall in pressure of piped gas supplied to the households.
Besides, gas crisis has disrupted production of many readymade garment, ceramic and others factories.
A severe gas crisis hit Dhaka and its outskirts on the very first day of Ramadan on Sunday due to technical fault in the supply process of Bibiyana Gas Field in Sylhet.
Housewives were suffering due to gas crisis at their homes in the capital. Most areas of the capital had acute gas crisis during Iftar and Saheri time. As a result, they were in trouble while making foods for Iftar and Saheri. Many people were forced to buy food from restaurants. Somewhere the flow of gas was very low. As a result, housewives had to spend most of the times in the kitchen. They faced difficulties to make Iftar and Saheri fasting all the day.
The power, energy and mineral resources ministry in a press release said different areas of the country may experience low pressure in gas supply due to maintenance work at the Bibiyana gas field.
“Experienced engineers are working to fix the problem. It is expected that the situation will become normal within the shortest possible time,” the release of the ministry signed by its public relations officer said on Monday.
The ministry regrets the temporary inconveniences of the consumers, it added.
“The shortage emerged due to the supply drop at Bibiyana field. Out of the total six gas wells, we have already repaired one and the remaining would be repaired by Monday,” an official said.
On 30 March, Bibiyana field operator Chevron supplied around 1,530 million cubic feet of gas (mmcf) from the field while the total supply in the country was 3,059mmcf. But on Sunday, Chevron supply dropped by around 100mmcf to 1,418, dealing a blow to consumers in Dhaka and adjacent areas.
The disruption of the key necessity is not only hampering regular activities but also enhancing living cost of the residents, as they have to make various alternative arrangements to cope with the problem.
Restaurants and hotels were also found dropping items from their menu because of the fall in gas pressure, thus incurring loss of business.
As an alternative, those who are a little more affluent have resorted to cylinders or electric stoves, but the middle and lower class people were suffering a lot.
Production in industries and power plants is being hampered due to acute crisis of natural gas. Fertilizer factories, CNG stations, residential and other sectors in the country were also suffering from gas crunch.
The Energy Division is not capable of handling the situation despite gas rationing in different sectors including CNG stations.
Gas crisis has disrupted production of many readymade garment factories in Ashulia, Chandra, Shafipur, and Gazipur areas.
The production of ceramic utensils, tiles and sanitary ware industry is being severely hampered due to insufficient supply of gas in the factories. Entrepreneurs in this sector have been suffering from this problem for more than a month now. Contacting Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Company, however, the desired level of gas is not assured. Therefore, the Bangladesh Ceramic Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BCMEA) sent a letter to the managing director of Titas on March 31 seeking a speedy solution to this problem.
According to the association, due to non-availability of gas pressure as per demand, production is stopped in the factories and it is not possible to export the products on time.
On Sunday (April 3), Petrobangla sources said that sand began to rise during gas extraction from six wells in Bibiyana on Sunday night. For this reason, production had to be stopped, which caused a gas crisis of about 450 million cubic feet at night.
Chevron Bangladesh said in a press release that they have made progress in bringing the Bibiyana gas field back to full capacity.
One of the two process trains damaged in the gas field has already been fixed. Production has started from one of the wells. Efforts are being made to bring the 'second one' and the rest of the wells back into production, the press release said.
A Petrobangla official said, “The production of 400 million cubic feet (MMCFD) of gas from Bibiyana has stopped on Sunday. Around 70-75 mmcfd gas production was restored on Sunday night. The rest is being tried to recover as soon as possible.”
