CNG now in kitchens, industries

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Ismail Hossain Deprived of lined natural gas and due to lack of adequate and low-priced bottled liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), a large number people are using the compressed natural gas (CNG) in kitchens and small industries, said those related with the sector. "Using CNG in small industries and in the kitchen has become an open secret in the recent months," said Zakir Hossain Nayon, General Secretary of Bangladesh CNG Filling Station & Conversion Workshop Owners Association. He said, "Our association and the government authority concerned have been neglecting the matter as the country is facing a dearth of gas to run its existing operations. People need gas and they want to get it anyway." He also said CNG is for natural gas vehicle (NGV) and the CNG filling stations are given licence to provide gas to CNG-run vehicles only. But the fact is that the growing industries need power. In intensive inquiries, it was found that hundreds of small scale industries, mainly in and around of the capital Dhaka, are using the CNG gas in their units. They just convert their fuel oil-run machines into gas-run ones as natural gas still cheaper despite the recent gas price hike. Ratan Saha, owner of a CNG filling station of Tangail told the FE Friday that using CNG in industries is very popular in Tangail, Gazipur and Savar areas. He however said that he doesn't sell CNG for such use. He said a famous electronics company, whose factory is in Chandra, consumes gas worth Tk 4.0 million per month from CNG stations. According to Petrobangla officials, the CNG stations consume around 200 million cubic feet (mmcf) of gas per day, which is one-tenth of country's total gas consumption. Around 0.22 million (2.20 lakh) vehicles currently run on CNG, which in turn save nearly Tk 15 billion worth of petroleum imports a year. Admitting the fact, Mr Nayon said those who use the CNG are not doing it willfully. If the government could supply gas to their industries, the price of which is much lower than that of CNG, they would use lined gas. They cannot get gas connection but they have to run their business. Thus they are forced to do so, he added. Meanwhile, a large number of people are using CNG in kitchens by buying it in cylinder. They said this is the cheapest form of energy as LPG is now very costly, lined gas connection is suspended and firewood also is becoming costlier. Abdulla Hasan, a resident of Dakkhin Khan in the capital, explained the reason of using CNG in the kitchen saying the prices of LPG that he used earlier have gone much higher in recent days. "Now there is no way left for us except using CNG," he said. Dr Mohammad Tamim, Professor and Head of the Department of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Engineering of BUET, told the FE that using CNG in the kitchen is very dangerous. He said the CNG cylinder may go off anytime that can result in grave accidents. According to Petrobangla's projection, gas supply shortfall now is more than 500 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd). It is set to double by the end of this year. Petrobangla's gas supplies have remained stuck at a maximum of 2,000 mmcfd since December 2009 due to lack of pipeline infrastructure, compressor stations and new sources of gas production.