State-owned Petrobangla is delaying exploration work at prospective Dighipara coalmine due to absence of a coal policy in the country, officials said Thursday.
"We have sought permission from the energy division to start exploration. But it has advised us to wait until the new coal policy is announced," corporation chairman Jalal Ahmed told the FE.
Petrobangla set an exploration strategy at a meeting with local experts in January last. It will go for a joint-venture with a company having previous experience to explore coal at Dighipara mine in northern Dinajpur, he said.
State-owned Geological Survey of Bangladesh (GSB), Bangladesh Petroleum Exploration and Production Company Ltd. (BAPEX), Barapukuria Coal Mining Company Ltd. (BCMCL) and local energy experts were present at the meeting.
In a landmark move, the government for the first time awarded Petrobangla a licence in December last year to explore the Dighipara coal zone.
"We are always ready to begin work to explore coal in the Dighipara mine project. But we have to wait until the coal policy is finalised," a senior Petrobangla official said.
The last caretaker government finalised a draft coal policy aiming to ensure best use of
the natural resource. The present government has started reviewing the draft policy to take forward steps.
"Just after getting energy division's green signal we will float tenders for taking a partner in the Dighipara coalmine exploration work," the senior Petrobangla official said.
Dighipara is one of the five identified coal zones in the country where geologists earlier ascertained a probable reserve of over 200 million tonnes of high quality Bituminous coal.
Petrobangla chairman Jalal Ahmed said: "We will prefer our local expertise to explore the Dighipara mine."
"We have different options. We can appoint state-run BCMCL or any other foreign company," he added.
The BCMCL is operating at the country's one of the mega coal production project at Barapukuria in Dinajpur, which has started full production since September 2005.
A senior energy ministry official said since the country's potential gas reserve is depleting fast the best option at this moment is use of coal for generating power.
"We have had target to utilise the Dighipara coal for generating power to feed the energy hungry Bangladesh," he said.
According to Petrobangla, there are seven structures in the Dighipara coalmine. The thickness of coal structure is 72 metres and the depth of the pit is 120 to 400 metres.
Five coal fields have so far been discovered in the country with estimated total reserve of more than 2,700 million tonnes. The energy value of the country's current coal reserve is almost twice the value of its existing natural gas reserve.
