Fresh govt move to import gas from Myanmar with Chinese help

M Azizur Rahman | Published: June 25, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00

The government has taken a fresh move to import natural gas from Myanmar with Chinese help to meet increased demand against the fast depletion of reserve, a top official said, Tuesday.
It has turned to China for securing Myanmar gas taking into consideration the possibility of a spur line from the Myanmar-China gas pipeline into a planned special economic zone (SEZ) for Chinese industrial investors, said a senior official of the Energy and Mineral Resources Division (EMRD) under the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources (MPEMR).
He said Prime Minister (PM) Sheikh Hasina, during her visit to China early this month, expressed interest to import a portion of the natural gas, now China is importing from Myanmar, for consumption by new industries to be built in a new SEZ for Chinese investors.
The Prime Minister put forward the proposal to Chinese Deputy Prime Minister Wang Yang during her meeting in China.
The PM was on a 6-day visit to China from June 6.
The planned SEZ will be established in southeastern Chittagong city, close to Myanmar.
Bangladesh government would provide necessary land to establish the zone.
Bangladesh Foreign Secretary Shahidul Haque shared the outcome of the meeting with reporters after the meeting between the Bangladesh Prime Minister and the Chinese Deputy Prime Minister.
Mr Wang assured Hasina of discussing the matter with the authorities concerned in Beijing and said a positive decision could be taken to that end.
China wanted to relocate its industries to Bangladesh if proper sites were available for such an initiative, the Chinese Deputy PM was quoted as saying to the Bangladesh PM.
During her visit, Bangladesh and China also inked a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for establishing the special economic and investment zone.
China Harbour and Engineering Company and Bangladesh Export Processing Zone Authority (BEPZA), the regulator for Bangladesh's economic zones, inked the MoU in China, the official added.
A Chittagong-based businessman has confirmed that Bangladesh government has already acquired necessary land to build the SEZ for China.
"The country would be benefited a lot if it can arrange import of natural gas from Myanmar with the Chinese help," Additional Secretary of the EMRD Abu Taher told the FE.
He said it would help ease the chronic natural gas crisis in port city Chittagong, which ensued following the permanent closure of the country's lone producing Sangu gas fields in October 2012 after 14 years of production.
China started importing natural gas from Myanmar in August last, through a 12 billion cubic meters (Bcm) pipeline running from Kyaukpyu in western Myanmar's Rakhine state to Ruili in China's southwestern Yunnan province.
Officials said this is not the first time Bangladesh has proposed to import gas from Myanmar.
Bangladesh was previously involved in a planned 290-km, tri-nation gas pipeline project designed to carry gas from Myanmar to India through Bangladesh, but talks remain stalled since 2005.
Bangladesh next approached Myanmar in December 2011 for gas imports, with Myanmar President Thein Sein assuring at the time that it will give preference to Bangladesh for gas exports in the future.
But this was subject to discovery of new gas fields and availability of gas reserves.
Progress also stalled on another plan, where Bangladesh proposed a gas-for-fertiliser swap deal in 2012, under which Bangladesh was to import gas from Myanmar for its gas-based fertiliser plants and export the fertiliser output to Myanmar.
"We held talks in May 2012 with a top energy ministry official from Myanmar over the issue," Petrobangla Chairman Hussain Monsur said.
But there has been no progress since then, he added.
Monsur said that should this proposal ever move forward, Bangladesh would import gas via pipeline from Rakhine -- where there are significant gas reserves -- into Chittagong, located about 200 km (124 miles) away.
The country's natural gas production is hovering around 2,310 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) against the demand for around 3,000 mmcfd.