DHAKA — Bangladesh confronted its worst energy cuts in over seven months as a lethal storm compelled the closure of each its floating liquefied pure fuel (LNG) terminals, lower than a month after a scorching heatwave brought on widespread outages within the south Asian nation.
Cyclone Mocha, one of many strongest storms to hit the area in years, made landfall in Myanmar, south of Bangladesh, on the weekend.
Millions of Bangladeshi residents have been hit by frequent energy cuts in current months, as erratic climate patterns and excessive world power costs have made gas provide to energy crops unreliable. The outages have irked residents, resulting in protests throughout the nation in current months.
“We are experiencing power cuts every other hour and there is hardly any gas to cook. Life has become painful,” stated Sumi Akhter, who lives on the outskirts of the capital Dhaka.
Zainul Abdin Farroque, a senior chief of the primary opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party, accused the federal government of not doing sufficient to make sure dependable energy provide regardless of mountain climbing tariffs.
“I am in my village now and there was electricity for just 57 minutes for last 24 hours,” Farroque stated.
Natural fuel accounts for over half of Bangladesh’s annual energy output, and the energy-hungry nation is more and more uncovered to cost and supply-related shocks, as its home fuel reserves have dwindled quickly over the previous few years.
Power provide was about 17% in need of demand on Monday whereas the deficit was greater than 14% on Sunday, knowledge from Bangladesh’s grid operator confirmed. The worst shortages had been witnessed after midnight, the information confirmed.
Bangladesh’s Summit LNG terminal, which resumed operations late on Monday, will enhance provides by two-thirds to 500 million commonplace cubic ft per day (mmscfd) on Tuesday, the chairman of its nationwide fuel firm stated.
Bangladesh’s different floating LNG unit, the Moheshkhali LNG terminal, will resume operations “in the next few days,” Petrobangla Chairman Zanendra Nath Sarker instructed Reuters. The Moheshkhali LNG terminal is operated by Excelerate Energy.
Resumption of provide from the terminals is anticipated to supply a respite from energy cuts, earlier than temperatures begin hovering within the latter half of the height summer time month of May, probably additional straining the grid.
Three LNG vessels shipped in by Petrobangla resulting from arrive this week have been delayed resulting from inclement climate, Sarker stated. The first vessel will arrive on May 18 as an alternative of May 13. Two others which had been due on May 16 and May 20 have been delayed, he stated, with out offering extra particulars. — Reuters
Source: www.gmanetwork.com
