Petrobangla for increasing LPG import to face gas crisis

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State-owned Petrobangla wants the government to encourage the private sector to increase liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) imports to meet the growing demand of domestic consumers, as it foresees short supply of gas in near future, reports UNB.
According to official sources, the present management of the government's hydrocarbon agency recently made a presentation in energy ministry articulating the future gas demand, supply and alternative measures to mitigate the crisis.
In their presentation, Petrobangla officials made it clear that the gap between demand and supply in gas distribution would consistently be widening in the days to come. Even the present supply would exhaust in the next seven years and there would be no gas to supply to domestic consumers.
"If the gas supply really comes to an end, then what will happen to 2.0 million domestic consumers who have already been habituated with the cheapest and easiest energy to use in their kitchens for cooking," said an official wishing anonymity.
Keeping that uneasy situation in mind, Petrobangla wants to start a move as soon as possible to have an alternative to face the future gas crisis.
In such a situation, Petrobangla Chairman Muktadir Ali thinks the only alternative to natural gas will be the LPG use for cooking by the domestic consumers.
"That's why we want the government to move for easing the import of LPG and create necessary facilities to reach the new alternative to people," he said.
He thinks the move should be started right now to popularise the LPG and remove all barriers to its import.
"Because, if we don't move right now, we are unlikely to prepare ourselves to switch over to LPG all of a sudden," he maintained adding, the private sector importers also needed to take preparations for the import of bulk LPG.
As per Petrobangla statistics, there are 2.0 million domestic gas consumers across the country who consume between 8-10 per cent of the total production and the annual growth rate in this regard is about 10 per cent.
Taking into consideration the existing consumption and its growth, the Petrobangla officials said the domestic consumers' demand would be a significant portion in the total gas consumption in the next seven years.
If that gas is diverted to power sector, about 2,000mw electricity could be easily generated.
At present, power plants have to cut its production by a total of 700mw because of gas crisis.
The Petrobangla chairman said people should be motivated for the use of LPG for cooking purposes so that all future consumers should use the new alternative.
Presently, the annual consumption of LPG in the country is about 40,000 tonnes. The state-owned Kailashtila plant has been producing 5,000 tonnes per annum.
To meet the ongoing LPG demand, another NGL fractionation plant at Kailashtila with the capacity of 110 tonnes a day is recently implemented with the government finance.
Different private companies are importing the rest of the LPG.