& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

Call to strengthen Bapex

Star Business Report
The government should allocate more fund and manpower to Bangladesh Petroleum Exploration & Production Company Ltd (Bapex) so that it can explore natural resources more efficiently, speakers at a discussion said yesterday.
They made the demand at a discussion organised by weekly Shaptahik in the city's BIAM auditorium.
The demand came after Bapex discovered a big oil and gas structure in Sunetra in Sunamganj-Netrokona districts in September 2010 and an additional one trillion cubic feet of gas in an existing national gas field of Rashidpur in Sylhet in September this year.
Bapex did all these amid financial constraint and a lack of adequate manpower.
Set up in 1989, Bapex is an exploration and production company, fully owned by the Petrobangla.
Economist Anu Muhammad said the performance shown by a young team of Bapex in Sunetra and Rashidpur is a body
blow to the people who said the state-run agency does not have the capacity and skill to go for exploration.
He said Bangladesh has to explore and operate natural resources like gas and coal on its own. "Then we will be able to give gas and electricity to people at low prices."
The economist said Bangladesh would not benefit from open pit extraction of high quality coal if 80 percent of the produce is exported or the country is forced to buy at international prices.
He said all problems lie within the Petrobangla and the energy ministry. "They do not change with the change of the government."
Muhammad, a leader of the National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas, Mineral Resources, Power and Ports, said Petrobangla and the energy ministry are working in the opposite direction of the government.
"Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman ensured the country's energy security by nationalising five gas fields. On the other hand, the Petrobangla and the energy ministry are trying to give away
gas blocks to foreign companies."
He said the government formed Bapex with the help of the World Bank so that it could explore gas and oil fields. "But it was not given financial resources and manpower. Bapex does not have its own fund as it cannot sell gas on its own."
"Petrobangla paid Tk 3,000 crore to the government as revenue last year although Bapex has not got Tk 279 crore it asked to the government. Petrobangla could have given the money."
"Besides, a gas fund was formed where Tk 1,000 crore is lying idle. So, the logic of a lack of money is a deceiving twister of words," he said.
He said the committee will organise a long march to Sunetra on October 28-31 to urge the government to keep the newly discovered gas field under its control.
"The objective is to keep Sunetra under the country's control. A national organisation has explored it and it has to dig the gas field."
He said the country pays a lot of subsidies as the international companies are
operating many of its fields. "If we can run it, we will be able to get gas at low prices and produce more electricity."
Justice Golam Rabbani said the parliament should pass a law banning exports of the country's natural resources for the next 50 years.
Economist Abu Ahmed said Bapex will be able to dig gas wells at one-third cost of the international companies. "We will have to extract coal, but there should not be any export provision. Many African countries are now controlling their natural resources. If they can do that we surely can do the same."
Aftab Alam Khan, a teacher at Dhaka University, said Bapex should be finan-cially strengthened so that it can run on its own. "There should be budgetary allocation for them."
Moshaheda Sultana, another teacher at Dhaka University, said the government should extend adequate support to Bapex so that it could take up long-term projects.
Columnist Abul Moqsud and Shaptahik Editor Golam Mortuza also spoke.