Gas reserves to last until 2031: Hamid

The gas reserves in Bangladesh is enough to last until 2031, if the current rate of extraction is maintained, says the state minister for power, energy and mineral resources, reports agencies.
Nasrul Hamid was replying to a question in parliament.
According to the state minister, 815.98 billion cubic feet of gas had been extracted until June this year.
"If this rate continues, we'll be able to use the reserve for around 16 more years, which means until 2031," he said.
Of the 26 gas fields discovered in Bangladesh so far, gas is being extracted from 20.
The reserve of the gas fields was 27.12 trillion cubic feet. Of the reserve, 12.96 trillion cubic feet had been used until June.
Now the reserve stands at 14.16 trillion cubic feet.
Hamid said it was not possible to supply gas according to the demand.
"The demand will increase in future. So it will not be possible to keep the extraction rate unchanged, if the reserve drops," he said.
He had earlier indicated that gas supply to household use would be stopped in order to meet industrial demand.
Replying to another written query Nasrul Hamid said as per a government plan, a programme for setting up solar power plants with a capacity of 900 megawatt is under process.
"A renewable energy policy has been framed for the development of renewable energy and green energy, and under the policy, a target has been set to generate five per cent electricity (800 MW) by 2015 and 10 per cent electricity (2000 MW) by 2020 from renewable energy," he said.
Under the plan, Nasrul said, a programme for setting up solar power plants with a capacity of about 900 MW is under process.
The state minister said wind resource management activities have been undertaken to build wind power plants at 13 coastal spots. "A process is underway to establish wind power plants with a capacity of about 700 MW in public and private sectors," he said.
Besides, he said, a programme for conducting a feasibility study on setting hydroelectric power plants in the country's southeastern region is underway.
Nasrul said different effective steps are being undertaken to set up biomass and biogas-based power plants. Besides, he said, initiatives have been taken to use supercritical technology in the coal-based power plants considering the harmful impact of climate change.
The state minister further informed that initiatives have also been
undertaken to import hydroelectricity from the neighbouring countries to meet the growing demand of power.
The duration of agreements with several rental power plants has been increased to keep consistency with the growing electricity demand in the country, Nasrul Hamid said.
"The tenure of the agreements with these rental power plants has been increased in consistency with the growing demand for electricity in the country as more time is needed to execute the coal-based power plants," he said.
Nasrul said as many as 31 quick rental power plants have so far been established in the country to generate electricity.
"The power generation capacity of these power plants is 2,137 megawatt," he informed.
The state minister said the rental and quick rental power plants have been supplying electricity to the national grid as per a government decision. "The existing rental and quick rental power plants are being run by gas, furnace oil and diesel," he said.