Bangladesh's liquefied natural gas (LNG) re-gasification dipped nearly to the lowest level while power supply is reduced by around 2,357 megawatts (MW), as of Wednesday, as the government considers further squeezing energy consumption to save reserves.
The country's two floating LNG- import terminals re-gasified around 428 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) of LNG Wednesday, only 42.8 per cent of their aggregate re-gasification capacity.
This stands somewhere near the lowest level of LNG re-gasification with both the floating storage and re-gasification units (FSRUs) being operational.
Country's overall LNG re-gasification had plummeted below 400 mmcfd during the last winter when one out two FSRUs - the Summit Group's FSRU-tripped following technical fault.
Overall electricity generation fell to around 11,000MW during peak hours from above 13,000MW during pre-austerity period as the government has shut operations of all diesel-fired power plants under the austerity measure to cut import of expensive diesel amid a global crunch for war disruptions.
The energy ministry has asked the state-run Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) to cut diesel import by up to 30 per cent to save foreign currency, said a senior BPC official.
"We are devising mechanism to slash the diesel imports," he adds.
There are, however, allegations that the state-run distribution companies are failing to carry out the government-mandated daily one-hour area-based scheduled load-shedding properly.
"Rural areas across the country are undergoing several hours of outages daily," says many a source.
Although load-shedding schedule is better in and around the capital, some city-dwellers, especially of Mirpur, Gabtoli and Jatrabari areas, have witnessed the load-shedding twice, they alleged.
Although the government has instructed the electricity-distribution companies to inform consumers about load-shedding through short message service (SMS), most of them have not yet sent SMSs over load-shedding schedules, consumers allege.
"Electricity transmission sometimes trips due to minor technical faults as the country's national power grid remained unsmart yet, which might result in several hours of outages in remote areas," a senior Power Division official clarifies.
Although not utilized fully, the distribution companies have prepared schedules separately for the areas under their jurisdiction to enforce daily one-hour load-shedding.
The government expects to cut diesel import by 10 per cent with the latest austerity measure of shutting the diesel-fired power plants - having a total generation capacity of around 1,300 megawatts.
Some 10-percent diesel import could be cut further if the transport owners become cautious with austerity, the Power Division official hoped.
Regarding measure to cut diesel import the BPC official says shutting diesel-fired power plants helped in reducing diesel consumption.
He sought government intervention to slow down movements of diesel-run vehicles on the street to cut consumption further as around 90 per cent of diesel is consumed by transport sector.
"Extending weekly government holiday by one day can be of great help," he opines.
Bangladesh imports around 50 million tonnes of diesel annually, whereas its daily consumption is around 15,000 tonnes.
According to Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB), Barisal area was outside the purview of load- shedding Wednesday.
Dhaka area witnessed the maximum load-shedding of around 763 MW, followed by Khulna with around 330 MW, Rajshahi 303 MW, Cumilla 253 MW, Chattogram 245 MW, Mymensingh 220 MW, Rangpur 180 MW, and Sylhet 91 MW.
To cut import bills to prop up falling reserves of the US dollar, Bangladesh has ceased LNG import from spot market since July.
Petrobangla, the country's parent gas company, is currently importing some five LNG cargoes every month from two long- term suppliers-Qatargas and Oman Trading International, or OQ.
To cope with energy supply shortfalls the government instructed on June 20 shutting all shops and shopping malls after 8 pm every day.
It also prohibited illumination in different junkets at community centers, shopping malls, shops, offices and houses on July 7.
Separately, a six-hour supply hiatus for compressed natural gas (CNG) filling stations from 5:00 pm to 11:00 pm daily is in execution to conserve power and energy.
Azizjst@yahoo.com