Dhaka faced a severe gas crunch for ten hours on Sunday after a midnight pipeline leak disrupted supply from Bibiyana gas-field.Officials say the full supply to the national grid from Bibiyana will only resume late afternoon.
It took the whole of Saturday night to fix the leak, Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Company Limited spokesperson Mohammad Shahjahan told bdnews24.com. Titas supplies gas to Dhaka.
Petrobangla Chairman Hossain Mansur apologised for having to stop gas supply for long hours.
Prime Minister’s Energy Advisor Tawfiq-E-Elahi Chowdhury confirmed that the fault was ‘successfully’ repaired and hoped for a full restoration by the day (Sunday).
The capital demands almost 150 MMCFD (million cubic feet per day) gas with 130 MMCFD available on average. A large portion of the gas comes from US-based Chevron-run Bibiyana gas field located in Habiganj.
Bibiyana adds 800 MMCFD gas to the national grid daily.
Titas Director (operations) Mir Mashiur Rahman told bdnews24.com they spotted the leak in a gasket (joint between two pipes) late Saturday evening.
A Chevron statement on Sunday said they had resumed full scale transmission from the morning and that supply was stopped overnight for security reasons.
Meanwhile, bdnews24.com was receiving complaints all morning from Dhanmondi, Mohammadpur, Khilgaon, Baily Road, Motijheel, Badda, Mohakhali, Kazipara and other areas of gas shortages.
Rakib-ul Alam, a resident of Mohammadpur Housing Limited, told bdnews24.com he was out of gas since early morning. “My office is in Mohakhali, I heard there isn’t any gas there either.”
Two of his relatives living in Kazipara and Badda were facing the same crisis.
Khilgaon resident Fayimuddin Fahim said there was no gas in his locality and at many other places. “I heard there is no gas in Motijheel, Moghbazar, Baily Road as well.”
Until the pipelink leak was repaired and the plant went operational at 7am, supply had remained 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 a number power plants were dependent on its gas supply, so it was incumbent to prioritise their supply. “I hope there won’t be any serious problems.”
“We hope the supply will be normal by afternoon.” (Source: bdnews24.com)
