Bangladesh typically feeds about 2,660 million cubic feet of gas a day into its national grid. Technical faults and operational disruptions at floating LNG terminals have now cut that supply by at least 18 percent.

The resulting LNG shortfall, now in its third week, has crippled power generation, industrial output and domestic supply. The shortage is exacerbated by a steady drop in domestic extraction, with energy officials and state-run Petrobangla particularly concerned over dwindling reserves at Bibiyana, the country’s largest producing field.

The Bibiyana gas field, operated by US energy major Chevron, accounts for 45 percent of all locally sourced gas. With no other field expanding output significantly to offset the deficit, its slide is dragging down total national gas supply.

Petrobangla data show that Bibiyana produced 740 million cubic feet a day on August 18, down from about 820 million cubic feet a day in March 2026. Output averaged 805 million to 810 million cubic feet a day through mid-April. In five and a half months, daily production has now fallen by roughly 80 million cubic feet.

Though state-owned companies operate 17 other gas fields, only Titas, Habiganj, Rashidpur and Shahbazpur gas fields produce significant volumes. The remaining fields yield little, and some have fallen to zero.

Bibiyana’s output is now falling by an average of 12 million to 15 million cubic feet a month, according to two Energy Division and Petrobangla officials who spoke to Bonik Barta on condition of anonymity. With only three or four other fields producing meaningful volumes, officials are increasingly concerned about how long the national supply can be sustained.

That decline is coming as demand already far outstrips current supply. Bangladesh needs about 3,800 million cubic feet of gas a day, against a normal supply of roughly 2,660 million cubic feet. Supply fell further to 2,175 million cubic feet on Wednesday, hitting power plants, industrial units, fertiliser factories, CNG stations and households.

The immediate problem is the disruption to LNG imports. Bangladesh relies on two floating storage and regasification units. After 25 consecutive days of disruption, the Summit terminal returned to full operation on Saturday, while the Excelerate facility partially resumed, briefly lifting gas input to the grid.

That improvement did not last, however. Excelerate’s output has fallen for three consecutive days as it received no fresh LNG cargo, forcing the terminal to shut completely at 3 pm Wednesday after running out of gas. Operations will resume once a new tanker arrives.

“Gas production from domestic fields is declining. That’s the hard reality,” Shafiqul Alam, lead energy analyst at the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA), told Bonik Barta.

“We invested little in the domestic gas sector over the past decade, yet spent $3.88 billion on LNG imports in 2025. Under current conditions, that bill will exceed $6 billion this year. A portion of those sums should have gone into annual domestic exploration. Had that happened, we wouldn’t face such a situation today.”

Alam added: “Given how much gas has been wasted or stolen in transmission and distribution over the years, we had an opportunity to improve energy efficiency. Industries could have used heat pumps instead of gas. Had we, like Nepal and Bhutan, also increased our own renewable energy production alongside hydropower, we wouldn’t have had to rely so heavily on LNG.”

The gas shortage is also hitting electricity generation. Bangladesh needs 2,524 million cubic feet of gas a day to run all its gas-fired power plants, but the allocation has fallen to 945 million cubic feet, according to Petrobangla sources.

At least 6,500 megawatts of generation capacity has consequently been left idle, triggering severe power cuts in district towns and rural areas. The outages are disrupting small-scale industries, agriculture, rice mills and cold-storage facilities, while fertiliser plants face severe operating constraints.

Captive power is another major use of gas in Bangladesh, with textile manufacturers drawing heavily from distribution companies to generate electricity for their factories. An acute gas crisis has left these facilities starved of fuel. Factory owners warn that production has become unviable even after rationing.

Anwar-Ul-Alam Chowdhury Parvez, president of the Bangladesh Chamber of Industries (BCI), told Bonik Barta: “There’s no gas during the day and barely any at night. Factories, especially textile mills, can’t be operated on rationing like this. Utility bills, worker wages and bank obligations remain due on schedule. A disruption lasting a few days is manageable, but a month of this will destroy the sector. International buyers are becoming aware of Bangladesh’s gas crisis. Factories making fabrics and carrying out other production work are unable to meet delivery schedules. If the uncertainty persists, there will be little chance of bringing the business back.”

Domestic gas production has been declining since 2016, while the introduction of costly LNG imports in 2018 failed to stabilise supply and added to pressure on national finances.

The previous administration tried to reverse the decline in 2022 with a 50-well drilling programme expected to produce 618 million cubic feet of gas a day. But output fell short of target after drilling 30 wells. The current BNP administration has since announced plans to drill 100 wells.

Petrobangla now says it is pursuing a larger programme to arrest the decline.

“To counter falling output, we have launched a 150-well drilling and workover programme, with 30 operations already completed,” Engineer Md Shoaib, Petrobangla’s director for operations and mines, told Bonik Barta. “Our aim is to increase gas supplies, with a particular focus on sustaining domestic production.”