Govt seeks $51m from WB for gas sector development

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FE Report
The government has sought US$ 51 million financial assistance from the World Bank (WB) for implementing gas sector development projects that included developing a small gas field and constructing gas pipeline.
"The Energy and Mineral Resources Division (EMRD) has recently sent a letter to the Washington-based multilateral donor agency seeking the funding assistance," a senior EMRD official told the FE.
He said the cost of the proposed gas sector development project is $117 million of which the government of Bangladesh will provide $66 million from its own resources.
The gas field - Samutang - situated in the country's southeastern region is planned to be developed by the state-owned Bangladesh Petroleum Exploration and Production Company Ltd (BAPEX) under the project.
If approved, it will be the country's first gas field to be developed and drilled with the donor's funding assistance in the span of last two decades, he added.
Petrobangla sources said Samutang gas field was discovered in 1969 with the proven gas reserve of 150 billion cubic feet (BCF).
Stressing the necessity to implement the project, the EMRD in its proposal to the WB said that as the country's proven gas reserve would diminish by 2011, there would no option but to explore for more gas.
In the letter the EMRD also sought the WB support to equip the Bangladesh Petroleum Exploration and Production Company Ltd to conduct geophysical and geological surveys in different areas of the country for gas exploration.
The state-owned Gas Transmission Company Ltd (GTCL) will permanently rectify the leakage problem in the gas pipeline beneath the Karotoya river bed at Sirajganj under the project work, the EMRD sources said.