Dwindling gas reserve and the urgency facing nation
Wednesday, 30 July 2008
The port city of Chittagong had been facing an acute crisis of gas since long. Though there is no readymade answer to the gas crisis the port city has been going through, yet one cannot also afford to sit on the problem and not lift a finger to address it. The reports on how the district's industries and power plants had been suffering were carried by the media from time to time. But nothing happened to address the problem until the Chief Adviser the other day put his foot down and ordered the energy ministry to solve the crisis on an urgent basis. In consequence, the committee to mitigate gas crisis in Chittagomg was formed. As part of the development, the committee headed by commerce adviser Hossain Zillur Rahman has decided to arrange additional gas supply to the industries and power plants of Chittagong from the Bangura gas field operated by the Irish company Tullo. Of the 20 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) of gas to be had from Bangura, 10 mmcfd will be supplied to the starving industries and the rest 10 mmcfd will fuel the power generation plants in the district.
The commerce adviser took the decision after holding a meeting in Chittagong with the major stakeholders in the business and the government officials concerned. Another decision of the meeting was that the office of the Bakhrabad Gas System Limited (BGSL), which is responsible for distribution of gas but had stopped its supply to the fuel-starved industries of the Chittagong city, would now be shifted to Chittagong. It is worthwhile to note that, since November last year, the BGSL could not supply gas to any of the 150 new industries set up in the district which had cost millions of dollars in investment. As a result, those newly set up industries have been counting losses as they are sitting idle due to lack of gas or power to run those.
Gas being the basic source of energy, it is not hard to foresee what is in store for the country in the future unless a serious thought is given to the matter on a priority basis. Consider only the double whammy the port city and its adjoining industrial districts are in. The factories are run both by power and gas. What is more, the power plants are also fuelled mostly by gas in Bangladesh. But without gas neither the power plants, nor the gas or power-driven industries are able to operate. In fact, though apparently, the Chittagong is now between the rock and the hard place, in point of fact, it is the entire nation that is reeling from its impact. And to all intents and purposes, there is also no easy way out of the predicament. It has been said that the drastic drop in the production of gas at the country's only offshore gas field Sangu is responsible for the situation in Chittagong.
If as reported, the problem is only technical such as lack of compressor to control the supply of gas, then authorities should take urgent measures to instal the devices to ensure adequate supply of the vital fuel either from Sangu or from the other gas fields of the country. But if it is about production shortage rooted in the dwindling reserve position of gas itself, then as an alternative solution one can also think of importing Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) either from Middle East or from Myanmar as suggested by experts and business leaders. Import of gas directly from Myanmar through pipeline can also be another option suggested by them. To sum up, what Chittagong is facing today will be faced by the entire nation tomorrow. So, any long-term solution to the present predicament of the port city should also envisage a long-term answer for the energy crisis of the rest part of the nation, too.
The commerce adviser took the decision after holding a meeting in Chittagong with the major stakeholders in the business and the government officials concerned. Another decision of the meeting was that the office of the Bakhrabad Gas System Limited (BGSL), which is responsible for distribution of gas but had stopped its supply to the fuel-starved industries of the Chittagong city, would now be shifted to Chittagong. It is worthwhile to note that, since November last year, the BGSL could not supply gas to any of the 150 new industries set up in the district which had cost millions of dollars in investment. As a result, those newly set up industries have been counting losses as they are sitting idle due to lack of gas or power to run those.
Gas being the basic source of energy, it is not hard to foresee what is in store for the country in the future unless a serious thought is given to the matter on a priority basis. Consider only the double whammy the port city and its adjoining industrial districts are in. The factories are run both by power and gas. What is more, the power plants are also fuelled mostly by gas in Bangladesh. But without gas neither the power plants, nor the gas or power-driven industries are able to operate. In fact, though apparently, the Chittagong is now between the rock and the hard place, in point of fact, it is the entire nation that is reeling from its impact. And to all intents and purposes, there is also no easy way out of the predicament. It has been said that the drastic drop in the production of gas at the country's only offshore gas field Sangu is responsible for the situation in Chittagong.
If as reported, the problem is only technical such as lack of compressor to control the supply of gas, then authorities should take urgent measures to instal the devices to ensure adequate supply of the vital fuel either from Sangu or from the other gas fields of the country. But if it is about production shortage rooted in the dwindling reserve position of gas itself, then as an alternative solution one can also think of importing Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) either from Middle East or from Myanmar as suggested by experts and business leaders. Import of gas directly from Myanmar through pipeline can also be another option suggested by them. To sum up, what Chittagong is facing today will be faced by the entire nation tomorrow. So, any long-term solution to the present predicament of the port city should also envisage a long-term answer for the energy crisis of the rest part of the nation, too.