Amid deepening energy crisis in the country, the interim government is planning to intensify hydrocarbon-exploration campaign in a major policy shift to deploy the lone local company to conduct the exploration activities.
State-owned Bangladesh Oil, Gas and Mineral Corporation (Petrobangla) prefers its subsidiary Bangladesh Petroleum Exploration and Production Company Limited (BAPEX) to utilise its expertise and invest domestic resources in the job.
To achieve its target, Petrobangla has sought a budgetary allocation of Tk 133.28 billion for the next four fiscal years from the Ministry of Finance (MoF), officials said on Monday.
They said the funds would be spent on conducting surveys, exploration and production activities in the prospective wells.
Petrobangla has decided to explore 100 wells in FYs 2025-29, aiming to enhance gas exploration and production by 1,475 million cubic feet per day (MMCFD), officials said.
"Petrobangla has sought the additional funds to enhance gas production through engaging local company BAPEX," said a MoF official. "We sought Petrobangla's detailed four-year plan."
An Energy and Mineral Resources Division (EMRD) official said Petrobangla sought the funds in addition to the allocation under the Mid-Term Budgetary Framework (MTBF).
The corporation aims to produce gas from 100 wells through exploration and work-over in the next four years, he said.
A senior Petrobangla official told the FE that they would require a total of Tk 190.50 billion for exploration and bringing the wells into production in the next four years.
Out of the amount, it expects Tk 133.28 billion to come from the government exchequer and the remaining Tk 57.22 billion from the implementing agency's own funds and the Gas Development Fund (GDF).
According to the Petrobangla proposal, it wants to explore, develop, and conduct evaluation-cum-development of 69 wells out of 100 planned ones with a potential to add 985 MMCFD of gas to the national grid within the next four years. Work-over activities will be conducted at the remaining 31 wells where Petrobangla is expecting to add 500 MMCFD of gas in the next four years.
The official said Petrobangla has requested the MoF to enhance the annual budget allocations in the MTBF for the next four years.
We sought Tk 23.20 billion for FY2026, Tk 28.80 billion for FY2027, Tk 38.88 billion for FY2028 and Tk 42.40 billion for FY2029 from the internal resources, he added.
"We want to utilise our local gas production and exploration company for enhancing the gas production, aimed at reducing import dependence," he said.
Bangladesh has long been grappling with acute natural gas supply shortage as the reserves in its gas fields are depleting fast. The country is now importing LNG to minimise the demand- supply gap.
Last year, the country imported 5.2 million metric tonnes of LNG, according to data from Kpler, but owes more than $600 million to LNG suppliers, Petrobangla officials said.
Petrobangla can supply nearly 2.75 billion cubic feet (BCF) of gas per day, much lower than the demand for around 3.715 BCF per day.
According to Petrobangla, the gas demand is expected to reach 3.77 BCF in the current FY2025, followed by a further increase to 3.99 BCF in 2025-26.
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