Gas shock halts life

Source : The daily Star

The country yesterday had a glimpse of how life would be when there would be no gas to burn stoves, generate power or run industries.
Every home and factories that rely on gas supply experienced a steep fall in gas supplies from early morning as a major gas field, Bibiyana, had to be suddenly shut down in the previous evening for emergency repair.
City residents were seen struggling with their stoves from early morning. The situation gradually improved by 3:30pm across the city.
“There was not even a hissing sound of gas in our stove this [yesterday] morning,” said Rabbi of Mohammadpur in the capital.
Islam of Mirpur managed to make his breakfast toasts and omelettes on dimly-lit burners.
“None in my family had breakfast today [yesterday] because there was no gas,” said Ali of Dhanmondi. He went out to look for breakfast at restaurants in the area.
Finding one restaurant jam packed, he went to another. There he had his breakfast and sent his driver home with breakfast for his family members.
Food shops and restaurants at the heart of the city had to use gas cylinders for cooking.
Industries that use gas-fired generators and boilers for production remained inoperative and lost a day’s production.
This was a common scene in Tejgaon, Ashulia and Tongi, said officials of Titas gas transmission and distribution company, which handles half of the country’s gas distribution.

A woman tries to cook lunch in a wood-burning stove in Begunbari . Photo: Star

The Power Development Board (PDB) that largely relies on gas for power generation was forced to effect heavy load-shedding in the morning.
“We are experiencing 700 to 800 megawatt [one-eighth of daily demand] load shedding today,” said a PDB official.
It all began when the Bibiyana gas field was shut down around 6:45pm on Saturday. Its US operator Chevron had noticed a leaking gasket in its gas processing plant that needed urgent repair.
The Bibiyana field meets about one-third of the country’s daily demand for gas.
On the shutdown, Chevron yesterday said: “After verifying the integrity of all systems, the gas plant resumed full production at approximately 6:15am Sunday [yesterday].”
Engineer Nawshad Islam, managing director (additional charge) of Titas, said since Chevron had informed about the emergency shutdown, Titas staff were busy on Saturday night managing the gas load to minimise its impact.
“Initially, it was expected that the Bibiyana field would be up and running within hours. But it took the whole night. Therefore, the impact was great,” he added.

vehicles queue up at a natural gas filling station in Mohakhali. Photo: Star

The effect of the shutdown, however, was not felt before early morning yesterday due to Titas’ load management and also because the gas accumulated in the pipeline lasted till late night. The pressure started to fall significantly after that.
Nawshad noted that the gas pressure at Tejgaon in the noon was only 20 pounds per square inch (psi) instead of 150 psi. (Even at peak hours, it drops down to 70-80 psi.)
“So this was like there is no gas,” he said.
The biggest blow was suffered by the gas-powered Jamuna Fertiliser factory. To keep this factory up and running, Titas tried to divert gas from other places, but it tripped due to lack of gas pressure.
“The problem with a fertiliser factory is once it trips, it takes 8-9 days to start full production. Whereas a power plant can resume production within a short time,” Nawshad said.
Power plants at Siddhirganj also went out of operation and the power generation at AES Meghnaghat and Haripur went down to a dangerous level.
At present, the country consumes around 2,250 million cubic feet of gas per day — leaving a short supply of 500 mmcf.
The gas crisis is set to become worse in the coming days as there had been no major gas field discovery in the recent years.