Gas Crisis Deepens as Excelerate LNG Terminal Suspends Operations

Bangladesh’s nationwide gas crisis worsened Wednesday after Excelerate Energy’s floating LNG terminal shut down completely at 3 p.m. due to a total depletion of fuel reserves.

The shutdown follows weeks of severe supply disruptions and highlights a critical import delay: four emergency cargoes scheduled to arrive this month under direct procurement contracts failed to land on time.

Two floating storage and regasification units (FSRUs) operate off Moheshkhali in Cox’s Bazar — one managed by U.S.-based Excelerate Energy (600 million cubic feet per day capacity) and the other by local firm Summit Group (500 million cubic feet per day capacity). Excelerate had originally halted operations on July 21 following a fire. Though technical repairs were completed by Saturday, the terminal had to rely on lingering residual stocks, which steadily trickled down before running out entirely on Wednesday.

National gas demand stands at 3.8 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd), against a normal capped supply of 2.7 bcfd. Imports typically account for 1.05 bcfd of that total. With Excelerate offline, nationwide daily supply dropped to 2.18 bcfd on Wednesday — down from 2.4 bcfd over the weekend and far below basic demand.

Relief remains days away. While a replacement cargo is expected to dock at Summit’s terminal on Thursday, the next cargo allocated for Excelerate is not projected to arrive until Aug. 23 or 24, leaving the terminal dark and domestic supply severely constrained through the weekend.