Excelerate FSRU runs out of LNG

The beleaguered Excelerate Energy LNG terminal at Moheshkhali is likely to be offline until August 23 after it ran out of gas yesterday afternoon.

Around 3:00pm yesterday, the American-owned floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) stopped supplying to the national grid, The Daily Star has learnt from Petrobangla officials with knowledge of the matter.

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The next LNG cargo is expected around August 23, meaning the terminal, which had partially resumed operations earlier this week from a technical fault, is unlikely to resume supply before then.

The development comes just as gas supply had begun recovering following weeks of disruption after both the FSRUs resumed operations.

Summit’s terminal has been supplying its full capacity of around 550 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd), while the Excelerate one was providing about 250 mmcfd, taking the total gas availability to roughly 2,420 mmcfd.

After Excelerate’s latest blackout yesterday, the total gas availability fell below 2,200 mmcfd, compared with around 2,650 mmcfd before the July 21 fire incident that forced the FSRU out of operation.

The government had planned to procure five LNG cargoes for delivery between August 23 and September 5: three in August and two in September.

State-run Rupantarita Prakritik Gas Company (RPGCL) floated a tender on August 17 and received offers for only two cargoes: one for August 23 and another for September 3, officials said.

A revised tender was floated on Tuesday for the remaining three cargoes, but only one offer was received. That cargo is scheduled for the first week of September, while the two August shipments remain uncertain, they said.

The government yesterday approved the purchase of a cargo from Aramco Trading Singapore at $23.93 per MMBtu, but it is scheduled for delivery on September 1-2.

The cargoes expected in September, therefore, cannot address the immediate supply gap created by Excelerate’s depleted inventory.

Domestic gas production is currently around 1,630 mmcfd.

At a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs yesterday, the government also gave in-principle approval to procure 14 more LNG cargoes -- two each from seven companies -- through direct procurement to maintain supply during emergencies.

Earlier, the government had decided to procure eight LNG cargoes through the same method, with four expected to be delivered this month. But with none of those cargoes yet confirmed, RPGCL had to return to the tender process, officials said.