Gas supply hits record high as Titas boosts production

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M Azizur Rahman
The country's gas supply hit an all-time high at 2,000 million cubic feet (mmcf) Saturday as authorities ramped up production in a desperate move to meet soaring demands in power plants and industrial units.
Petrobangla officials said the increased output was due to the supply of an extra 15 mmcf gas from the Titas field in Brahmanbaria, owned the by state-run Bangladesh Gas Fields Company Limited.
Production from the international oil companies (IOCs) including the US oil giant Chevron and Irish Tullow also picked up over the last few months amid mounting demand from private companies and power plants.
"Titas gas field has raised daily gas production by 15 mmcf from late Friday, resulting in a nationwide record gas supply of 2000mmcf" Petrobangla Chairman M Muqtadir Ali told the FE Saturday.
With the augmented production, Titas's total gas output has reached around 420 mmcfd, the second highest after Chevron-operated Bibiyana gas field in Sylhet, which supplies around 675 mmcf a day.
The country's overall gas output was hovering around 1,800 mmcf a day early this year, a shortfall of around 300 mmcf from the actual demand, prompting the authorities to halt supplies to three-state-owned fertiliser factories.
The crisis also forced the government to change its long-reliance on gas for power generation and freeze new supplies to hundreds of factories and bulk consumers.
Earlier this month the authorities have invited bids to set up eight rental power plants to be fired by diesel and furnace oil after Petrobangla said it can't furnish gas to these electricity generation units.
"We are desperately trying to increase gas supply from the state-owned fields for resumption of new gas connections to bulk consumers," Mr. Muqtadir Ali said.
He said the state-owned companies are drilling new wells to boost supplies from a number of gas fields including Bakhrabad, Semutang, Begumganj, Koilashtila, Hobiganj, Kapasia, Sundalpur, Srilail and Mobarakpur.
Natural gas was first discovered in the country in 1955 and production began in 1960.
Gas consumption in 1961-1970 was only 67 billion cubic feet (Bcf), which rose to 279 Bcf in the following decade and 1.06 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) during 1981-90 and thereafter 2.49 Tcf during 1991-2000.
In the current decade, total gas consumption would be around 5.0 Tcf, which is one-third of the country's proven reserve, said the official.
As the demand leapfrogged capacity, the country has been facing an acute gas crisis since 2007, which has hit industrial production especially in the port city of Chittagong where projects worth billions of taka could not start operation.
The government forecasts the nation's current gas reserves will run out by 2014-2015 at present rate of consumption unless new discoveries are made.