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High time to start gas exploration
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Energy Security Day today with the theme “Energy savings: the oath of smart Bangladesh”.
The government has been observing the day since 2010 to mark Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s decision on August 9, 1975 to purchase five gas fields from a multinational oil drilling company, Shell Oil Company, by paying some 4.5 million pounds (about Tk 17-18 crore then).
Those five fields --- Bakhrabad, Titas, Rashidpur, Kailashtila and Habiganj -- account for 82 percent of the country’s total gas reserves. The other 18 percent of gas reserves were discovered in the past 50 years.
“In the last 15 years, much more emphasis was laid on LNG imports, leaving aside the development of the local gas sector,” said Maqbul-E-Elahi Chowdhury, a former member of Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission, at a webinar yesterday while presenting the keynote paper.
The current gas crisis is a result of the government’s excessive interest in import-dependent fuel supply policy, he said at a webinar titled “Philosophy of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on Energy Security, Achievement and Implementation Status”.
“We could not take proper initiative to explore the local onshore and offshore gas in our country. It was Bangabandhu’s philosophy to develop the local gas sector,” he said at the webinar organised by the Bangladesh Energy Society.
Among the 29 gas fields, 21 are operational and produce about 2,150 million cubic feet of gas a day (mmcfd). Since 2016, production has been declining. The highest production then was 2,666 mmcfd.
LNG import was initiated in late 2018.
Due to the pandemic and Ukraine war, the government needed to spend an additional $8 billion on imports, said Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury, the prime minister’s energy advisor.
“The gas supply will increase in 2026 as we are working on increasing local production under a crash programme,” said Md Khairuzzaman Majumder, senior secretary of the energy division, at a recent programme.
At the same time, the government has signed two contracts to import more LNG from Qatar and Oman.
With the lack of gas supply, the industries and power plants are facing acute crises to operate smoothly. Around 60 gas-fired power plants need around 2,174 million cubic feet of gas per day but have been getting only 1,100-1200 mmcfd, shows data from Petrobangla.
At least 20 gas-fired power plants were shut yesterday due to a gas crunch. Only three out of seven fertiliser factories are getting gas, shows data.
Chevron took huge initiatives to increase production of the Bibiyana gas field and kept the production stable from the onset, said M Tamim, dean of Buet’s chemical and materials engineering faculty, in yesterday’s webinar.
“But the local gas companies failed to raise the production, especially in the Titas gas field, even though its reserve is the same as Bibiyana,” he added.
Bangladesh has a lot of hydrocarbon potential, said Badrul Imam, honorary professor at the University of Dhaka’s geology department.
Even though the gas reserves are drying up, the country still has two-thirds of its areas unexplored.
“Besides, we don’t know what is the situation of our offshore reservoirs.”
The government should focus on rigorous gas exploration.
“If we don’t explore the alternatives in time, national energy security will be under threat. LNG imports should not be the dominant source of gas supply; rather it should be a supplement to local gas,” he added.

PM likely to roll it out August 17
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ceilings in the Probash scheme, which is for non-resident Bangladeshis. The instalments can be paid in dollars.
The Progoti scheme is for private sector employees and will be similar to the provident fund. Employees will pay a certain percentage of their basic salaries towards the scheme and their employers would be putting in the same amount.
The Surokkha scheme was designed for those in the informal sector. There will be different instalment ceilings. The instalment amount will not be dependent on basic salaries.
Samata scheme is for the poor, with the government bearing half the instalment amount.
The schemes will be operated through apps. For smoother operations, over 100 tech experts will be recruited by the authority.
The government has already formed a two-member National Pension Authority to execute the pension scheme formulated to provide pension services for the common people.
Kabirul Ezdani Khan, an additional secretary of the finance division, has been made the executive chairman of the body, and Golam Mostofa, another additional secretary of the division, is the executive member.
In January, the government enacted the Universal Pension Management Act-2023.
Under the proposed scheme, a beneficiary can enjoy pension benefits subject to the payment of a subscription fee up to the age of 60 if the person enrols between 18 and 50 years of age.