Gas runs dry: Bangladesh factories shut, homes go dark

Bangladesh’s gas crisis has left the country’s once-busy Ashuganj fertiliser factory silent for more than a year, disrupting fertiliser production, forcing industries to cut output and contributing to power shortages and protests over fuel supplies.The state-owned factory, located near the eastern Titas gas field, shut down in March 2025 after a sharp decline in gas production, which was attributed to underinvestment in ageing fields and exploration. The crisis has since been compounded by disruptions to imports from the Middle East amid the US-Iran war.Ashuganj once operated around the clock, using natural gas to produce urea fertiliser for farmers across Bangladesh. The factory employed more than 1,200 people and produced more than 1,000 tonnes of fertiliser a day. It now stands largely idle, with machinery left unused.“Only the skeleton of the factory remains,” said Md Bazlur Rashid, 59, who spent his entire working life at Ashuganj.“It has lost its life," he added, as cited by AFP.Ashuganj is among six major urea fertiliser plants in Bangladesh that have either shut down or restricted operations because of gas shortages. Trade union leader Md Abu Kawsar said the shutdowns had cost workers their jobs while putting pressure on an industry closely linked to food security.“You cannot simply let these factories sit idle and allow them to deteriorate,” Kawsar said. He added that reviving the plants could also help reduce pressure on the country’s foreign currency reserves.The gas shortage has also spread across Bangladesh’s wider industrial sector. Hundreds of factories, including textile plants, have either reduced production or shut down, affecting an industry that accounts for about 80% of the country’s export earnings and makes Bangladesh the world’s second-largest garment exporter.Households have also faced disruptions, with domestic piped-gas supplies frequently cut. Gas-fired power plants are struggling to meet electricity demand, resulting in regular blackouts.The government introduced electricity-saving measures in August, including an order for shopping malls to close one hour earlier, as the gas shortage continued to strain the country’s energy supply.Electricity generation, industrial units and captive power plants account for more than three-quarters of Bangladesh’s natural gas consumption, leaving households to bear the impact of worsening shortages.Households account for just over a tenth of the country’s gas consumption but have also faced frequent disruptions. “We don't get a drop of gas overnight,” said housewife Nargis Begum, 50, who lives near the Ashuganj factory.“Then sometimes the pressure is too low. We can't turn on two burners at the same time.”Many households, particularly in rural areas, have switched to wood-burning stoves, while frequent power cuts have left residents without fans amid sweltering humidity.“There is no let-up in our suffering,” Begum said. “There is no guarantee of electricity. It's so hot now. Last night, there were three or four outages.”The shortages have also triggered protests among gas-powered rickshaw drivers, who have blocked roads after spending hours waiting for fuel.The crisis has been building for years. Bangladesh was largely self-sufficient in natural gas in 2018, but production declined as older fields were depleted while demand continued to rise. The country has increasingly relied on imports, with Qatar emerging as a key supplier.Experts have said successive governments failed to invest sufficiently in gas exploration. Energy Minister Iqbal Hasan Mahmud Tuku blamed the previous government of Sheikh Hasina, which was ousted in a 2024 revolution, for failing to drill new wells.“The previous government stayed away from gas exploration,” he told an energy security conference in Dhaka in July. “Our dependence on imports has brought us to this point.”Catch the latest World News and Live updates. Download the TOI app.