Long queues as gas shortage plagues Dhaka’s CNG filling stations

For the past month, queues outside Dhaka’s CNG filling stations have been stretching longer by the day, leading to mounting frustration among drivers.

As temperatures rise, the government has been diverting more gas to power plants to meet the increased demand for electricity, leading to reduced gas allocations for commercial and industrial consumers.

A recent visit to areas like Dhaka's Moghbazar, Mohakhali, and Rampura revealed hundreds of vehicles waiting outside CNG stations. Even with compressors running, the stations are receiving less than half the gas they need. As a result, many customers often leave with only half-filled cylinders after long waits.

The issue is forcing drivers -- especially those who operate autorickshaws and rental cars -- to line up multiple times a day for refuelling, taking up valuable time and, in turn, hurting their livelihoods.

“There's a severe gas crisis now," said CNG-powered autorickshaw driver Ruhul Amin. "We wait for hours at the filling stations. My vehicle can usually hold Tk 300 worth of gas in the tank, but now I leave with only Tk 100–120 worth. It’s a real struggle.”

"I operate under a half-day contract," Ruhul added. "Refuelling alone takes two to two-and-a-half hours. With Tk 120 worth of gas, I can drive only four to five hours. If I could fully fill the tank once, I could drive all day."

Another autorickshaw driver, Abdur Rob Mia, said: "I work half-day shifts. If I have to refuel two or three times a day, when will I find time to pick up passengers? There’s no profit now. The situation has worsened after Eid."

A staff member managing queues at Hajipara CNG Station in Rampura said, “The queue stretches half a kilometre. Yet, many vehicles still have to leave without gas. There's nothing we can do. The line pressure is very low.”

Station engineer Sajal Mridha said, “The gas inlet pressure should be around 70–80 psi, but during the day it drops to 20–25. At night, sometimes it goes up to 70–80 again. The only other time the pressure is at the normal level is Fridays. That’s the simple math behind the suffering.”

He said both customers and station operators are suffering losses. “Someone expecting Tk 300 worth of gas is getting only Tk 60–100. Our workload has increased, but sales have dropped. Where once we sold Tk 3 million worth of gas, it's now down to around Tk 1.5 million.”

A Petrobangla official said that the government has increased gas supply to power plants due to the surge in electricity demand during summer, leading to cuts in gas supply to industries and commercial connections like CNG stations.

Energy Advisor Fouzul Kabir Khan said, "An interim government is naturally there for a short term. Solving long-standing crises like this isn’t possible for it. Even if two gas fields were discovered today, it would take at least two years to extract gas from them. These are long-term processes. For now, we are trying to ration gas where it’s needed most."

According to Petrobangla's latest report dated Apr 27, daily gas supply in the country has dropped to 2,700 million cubic feet, while daily demand stands between 3,700-4,000 million cubic feet.