Iqbal Hassan said the ongoing crisis began after a fire broke out at a floating LNG terminal. He said there was limited scope for immediate action under the current institutional constraints.

“It is not possible to suddenly increase gas production, while existing gas cannot be unloaded and supplied to the national grid until the FSRU becomes operational.”

Explaining the government’s current strategy, the minister said there was no option but to wait until engineers complete repairs to the FSRU.

He said engineers from the UK and Singapore are working on repairing the LNG terminal. However, once the repairs are completed, the two new boilers will have to be started simultaneously.

The entire system would then need to remain shut down continuously for three days for technical coordination, he said, warning that the country would temporarily face a severe gas crisis as a result.

At the event, he also spoke about battery-powered rickshaws, noting that most of them are charged after midnight through illegal connections.

As a result, the peak period for electricity consumption is shifting to midnight, while total demand is rising to around 18,000MW, he said.

However, government employees are facing attacks in many places while trying to disconnect the illegal electricity connections, the minister added.