Developed countries took away around US$8.0 billion in an additional cost of imports by Bangladesh because of Ukraine war, a government functionary says to criticisms of lacking in energy extraction.
This extra cost was spent by the government to clear import costs of different commodities, including energy, said Prime Minister's Energy Advisor, Dr Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury, at a meet held Tuesday for a review of problems with energy and power.
The webinar, titled 'Philosophy of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on Energy Security: Achievement and Implementation Status', was organised by Bangladesh Energy Society.
Former member of Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) Maqbul-E-Elahi Chowdhury presented the keynote paper at the meet, which was also addressed by energy-expert Dr M Tamim, former principal secretary to the Prime Minister Abul Kalam Azad, ex-chairman of Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) ASM Alamgir Kabir and Summit Group chairman Mohammed Aziz Khan.
The PM's energy adviser outright rejected an idea of developing local coalmines in the wake of huge coal import to meet unmet fuel demand in Bangladesh, particularly for power generation.
"We will not go for extracting local coal now," he told his audience, reasoning that it might destroy valuable agricultural land and underground aquifer.
He said several studies on this option have already been carried out.
Mr Chowdhury thinks renewable energies like solar and wind power could be complementary to each other as solar can produce power at daytime while wind can give better output at night.
Pointing to his efforts to expedite offshore hydrocarbon exploration, he said convincing US company ExxonMobil to come and explore Bangladesh's offshore areas took him 10 years. Now it has offered to invest in the country.
But it is not clear why ExxonMobil became interested now. "Is it for my persuasion or for other reasons?" he inquired and said, "It's not clear whether it will invest or not."
Discussants at the webinar said the country's current energy crisis is an outcome of government's overreliance on energy imports to meet the domestic demand.
Over the past one decade more emphasis was on import of liquefied natural gas (LNG) instead of exploring domestic resources, said Maqbul-E-Elahi Chowdhury.
The government could not take proper initiative to explore local onshore and offshore gas, he said.
The philosophy of Bangabandhu was to develop the local gas sector, which was reflected in the first five-year plan, he added.
Dr M Tamim flayed Petrobangla for its 'inability' to raise the capacity of state-owned gas fields, saying that US firm Chevron took huge initiative to increase its production capacity at its Bibiyana gas-field and kept the production stable since the start.
"But Petrobangla failed to raise the production capacity of Titas gas-field despite its huge potential," he told the meet.
The country could face no power shortage if no COVID and no war took place, said Summit Group chairman Mohammed Aziz Khan, whose firm owns power plants like quick-rental ones.
He termed the much-talked-about capacity payment for power plants a fixed cost.
"It's like a charge for renting a house from its owner. The tenant must pay no matter he or she lives in there or not after renting," he said, defending capacity payment.
He was also of the opinion that solar and wind cannot be a sustainable solution for future energy security.
Azizjst@yahoo.com
