Dhaka, Sept 3 (V7N) – State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Aninda Islam Amit today expressed hope that the country's power and energy situation will improve significantly within the next two weeks, as efforts are underway to normalize the remaining gas supply and bring power plants back to full operation.

"Around 88 percent of the gas supply system has already been restored, while efforts are underway to normalize the remaining 12 percent as soon as possible," he said at a press conference at the Secretariat. Expressing regret over the sufferings of people, Amit said, "We share people's sufferings in this situation. We hope the situation will improve significantly within the next two weeks."

The state minister said two units of the Payra Power Plant are currently out of operation due to maintenance, while one unit of the Rampal Power Plant is also not operating at full capacity. Coal-carrying lighter vessels cannot currently be brought to the power plants due to rough weather in the Bay of Bengal. "Once the weather returns to normal, coal supplies will become easier. Then the Payra and Rampal power plants will be able to return to full-capacity generation," he said.

Amit said one 616 MW unit of Payra was shut down due to a technical fault, while another 616-MW unit at Matarbari was undergoing maintenance, with steps taken to bring both back into full operation quickly. The Adani power plant was also facing problems due to excessive rainfall, with Bangladesh currently receiving around 900 MW during the daytime and nearly 1,100 MW in the evening, compared to the contracted 1,600 MW.

The state minister announced an initiative to set up the second unit of Eastern Refinery Limited (ERL) with $1 billion in financing from the Islamic Development Bank, with an agreement signed today in the presence of the Prime Minister. Once implemented, the project will triple the country's crude oil refining capacity, with the new facility capable of refining around 4.5 million metric tonnes of crude oil annually—meeting more than 50 percent of total fuel demand. The project is scheduled to become operational in 2030.

Amit said currently 2,300 to 2,700 mmcf of gas can be supplied through domestic production and imported LNG. However, if all gas is allocated to power generation, supplies to industries and households will be disrupted. He noted that Bangladesh's one of the two FSRUs for imported LNG went out of order on July 21 and took around 21 to 22 days to repair.

The government expects a significant improvement in the overall power and energy situation after September 15, with the ERL expansion project playing an important role in ensuring the country's energy security.

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