Chittagong, Bangladesh: On May 5, talks were held between Bangladesh and neighboring Burma to import gas for meeting the growing demand, Adviser to the Prime Minister Dr. Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury said yesterday.
He also indicated that under the move, the much talked about proposal of a tri-nation - Burma-Bangladesh-India - gas pipeline project might be revived.
“If the issue of the tri-nation gas pipeline comes up again, we should not have any problem so far as our gas import is concerned,” he told reporters at a meet-the-press event at the National Press Club organized by Energy Reporters Forum.
India had proposed the tri-nation gas pipeline during the BNP regime in 2004. New Delhi had offered to build a 1000 km gas pipeline from Burma to India via Bangladesh to import gas from Burma. But the project was never implemented for different reasons, including US economic sanctions against Burma.
Recently, the project again came into discussion as Russia and India expressed interest about it.
Tawfiq also gave a review of different programmes of the government in the power and energy sector.
Pointing to a huge power generation programme, he claimed that about 1500MW of electricity would be added to the national grid by the year’s end when the country’s total power generation would reach 6000MW.
“We are hopeful of increasing the power generation to 7000MW by 2013.”
“Similarly, gas production will be increased by 1000 million cubic feet per day (MMCFD) by the same time,” he added.
Tawfiq further said that the government has prepared a Power System Master Plan (PSMP) to implement a massive power generation project. As per the PSMP, the country’s power generation is envisioned to increase to 20,000MW by 2021 and 30,000MW by 2030.
The adviser said the government would float tenders within this year for setting up 1000MW coal-fired power plants in the country.
Referring to the nagging gas crisis he said the issue of appointment of a consultant is at the final stage for the import of LNG (liquefied natural gas).
“We hope the consultant for LNG imports will be appointed even though the World Bank has not provided funding yet for the project”.
He mentioned that under a government programme, more compact florescent lamp (CFL) bulbs would be distributed among the electricity consumers across the country.
Elahi, who also had served as energy secretary during the tenure of the previous Awami League government, said a floating LNG terminal will be set up in the Chittagong region to facilitate the LNG import from international sources.
He mentioned the country’s agriculture sector has received the highest amount of subsidies, which is likely to continue.
He also said the government would sign a contract with the international oil company Santos very soon allowing it to sell its gas to any third party. Even the state-owned PDB could buy gas from Santos under the deal.
Santos, an Australian oil giant, last year acquired gas field operations in Bangladesh from the UK’s Cairn Energy.
Santos is now operating in Block 16 in the Chittagong region, which is facing an acute gas crisis.
