\\\'Gas utilisation strategy\\\' to refix price according to priority in each sector

The government will initiate a move to evolve a ‘gas utilisation strategy’ to ensure the fossil fuel’s appropriate use in different sectors according to each sector’s priorities. In this regard, the gas price will be reviewed and readjusted for different sectors considering their optimal priority, State Minister for Power and Energy Nasrul Hamid has said. Official sources said the new move comes against the backdrop of the government’s plan for import of LNG to meet the growing energy demand. After more than 3 years of bureaucratic tangle, finally the government inked an initial deal on June 26 to set up a floating LNG terminal 5-10 kilometre offshore from Maheshkhali island in Cox’s Bazar. As per contract, the construction of the floating storage & re-gasification unit (FSRU)-based LNG terminal is scheduled to be completed before June 2016, which will supply 500 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) gas to the national gas network. For this supply, the government few years ago signed another memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Qatar to import the required LNG. But the price was not fixed for the import of the liquified natural gas. The price will be fixed with the start of its import. Prime Minister’s Energy Advisor Dr. Tawfiq Elahi Chowdhury said the gas price will have to be re-fixed in the perspective of the global market price at the time when imports start. About the idea of gas utilisation priority, State Minister for Power and Energy Nasrul Hamid said the government doesn’t want anymore to allow gas supply to those sectors which are not cost effective, particularly to remote districts with low density of industrial customers. He said it is obvious gas price will go up for import of LNG. That’s why we have to set the nation’s priority of gas for different sectors and re-fix the gas price, according to a news agency.