The government has achieved a significant success in power generation duringthe last 11 years. However, it came through expensive options. The average bulkpower supply cost increased to Tk 5.67 per unit now from Tk 2.50 per unit in2008. It resulted in frequent hikes in power tariff. In a latest move, it has increasedthe average retail power tariff to Tk 7.13 per unit with effect from March 1, 2020from Tk 3.81 in 2009. The gas price has also been increased for several times. Butthe consumers as a whole are bearing the brunt of the price hike.

The energy and power sector is going to observe the Mujib Barsho, with a vow toworking on ensuring sustainable energy supply during the year. However, if theprice hike trend of last 11 years continues, the energy would not remainaffordable for the consumers. Ensuring energy at affordable price would remainelusive unless the country could explore the own energy resources. The MujibBarsho is expected to be a year of taking the right path to increase the supply ofown primary energy that would contribute to the sustainable development of thecountry.

Masuk Helal draws the two sketches of Bangabandhu used in the cover & coverinner

Fortnightly Magazine, Vol 17, Issue 18, March 1-15

For arresting the alarmingly ris-ing trend of power and energyprices, the country must initiateactions for ensuring assuredsupply of own fuel throughcommencing mining of owncoal and expediting petroleumexploration in this “MujibBarsho”. Any failure to ensuresmooth supply of own primaryfuel will not only affect thecountry’s energy security, it willalso make uncertain the ...

A panic that has been spreadingover the world has sent a chillthroughout the global economy.The virus now has created a lotof noise beyond China, andcould be much more damagingfor the economy that might beunthinkable at this point.

The reality is that China is an in-dispensable part of global tradeand business for most countriesincluding Bangladesh churningout products like iPhone...

Since announcing the election manifestoby Awami League ahead of the generalelection in 2008, the people of Bangladeshstarted expecting that the nagging energycrisis might go and they would get the en-ergy at an affordable price. The politicalparty assumed office and after a while theenergy supply situation started improving.It formed the government for two nextterms with similar commitment. The energysupply situation continued to improve.Though there is room for further improve-ment, the electricity supply has by now...

41 27 9

EditorMollah M Amzad Hossain

Advisory EditorAnwarul Islam TarekMortuza Ahmad FaruqueSaiful Amin

International EditorDr. Nafis Ahmed

Contributing EditorsSaleque Sufi

Online EditorGSM Shamsuzzoha (Nasim)

Managing EditorAfroza HossainMagazine AdministratorAKM Shamsul Hoque

ReportersArunima HossainJannatul Ferdushy SovaAssistant Online EditorAditya HossainDesign & GraphicsMd. Monirul Islam PhotographyBulbul Ahmed

ProductionMufazzal Hossain Joy

Computer GraphicsMd. Uzzal Hossain

Circulation AssistantKhokan Chandra Das

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Encouraged by the readers and patrons, the EP would continue bringingout Green Pages to contribute to the country’s efforts in its journeytowards environment-friendly energy.

5 WORLD WATCH

Latest Development in

World

6,8 SNAPSHOT

Latest Development

9 COVER

Daring Dream

Year of Taking the Right Path

COVER ARTICLE

15 Looking Afresh in

‘MujibBarsho’

SPECIAL ARTICLE

17 Curses of Having Plenty

REPORT

18 Wärtsilä Gas Power Plant to

Facilitate Growth of

Bangladeshi Industrial

Complex

19 BIMSTEC to Promote

Regional Electricity Grid

21 Will Light Up Every House by

Mujib Barsho: PM

22 US­Norwegian JV to Launch

Offshore Survey This Year

23 Govt Plans Power Tariff Cut

for Industrial Units

24 Significant Progress in

Manufacture of Passive Core

Flooding System for RNPP

25 Raise Power Consumption to

1,000 Kwh

WORLD

27 Coronavirus: An Avalanche for

Global Economy & Risks for

Bangladesh

ARTICLE

29 Unabated Blowout Crater

Natural Gas Release: A

Potential Source Of Gas

CLIMATE

37 Climate Change a Big

Challenge for All: Minister

38 Scientists Gather to Study

Risk from Microplastic

Pollution

39 Air Pollution Costs $2.9

Trillion A Year

40 Antarctica Registers Record

Temperature of Over 20C

INTERVIEW

41 Md. Maqbul­E­Elahi Chowdhury

Member, Bangladesh Energy

Regulatory Commission

31 Bangladesh Appeals for

More Partners to Help

Roll­Out Off­Grid Solar

33 IDCOL Extends Financing

to Fakhruddin Textile for

Rooftop Solar Project

33 Green Groups Call for

Steps to Save Sundarbans

34 Solar Power Plant Projects

Likely to be Delayed Due to

Virus Outbreak

5

Worldwatch

March 1, 2020

Wo r l dEnergyC o u n -cil Sec-

retary General and CEO Dr Angela Wilkinson met with SaudiArabian Energy Minister HRH Prince Abdulaziz bin SalmanAl Saud in the Saudi capital Riyadh on 19 February.

During the meeting, Dr Wilkinson thanked Prince Abdulazizfor his continued support of the World Energy Council and hispersonal efforts over the years as Chairman of the World En-ergy Council’s Saudi Arabian Member Committee.

Dr Wilkinson, who is on her first official visit to Saudi Arabia,presented her vision and strategy for the Council in the yearsahead.

She outlined her agenda on humanizing the energy transitionand invited support for the Council’s broad program of workand addressing the broad social agenda, including energypoverty.

She called for alignment of efforts across regions to enablenew opportunities to include clean hydrogen and the circularcarbon economy.

WEC Secretary General MeetsSaudi Energy Minister

PTTEP ’sfocus thisyear willbe on

preparing newly acquired projects offshore Thailand, notablythe G1/61 concession containing the Erawan field and G2/61(Bongkot), to be ready to deliver petroleum as stipulated inthe profit-sharing contracts.

Work will include planning the drilling campaign, construc-tion of new production platforms and gas pipelines, and otherrelated activities.

For the Erawan field transition in 2022, PTTEP is working withcurrent concessionaire Chevron and Thailand’s Departmentof Mineral Fuels to ensure continuity of operations.

Elsewhere PTTEP plans to step up exploration activities inpromising offshore areas including the Myanmar MD-7 proj-ect and the Lang Lebah-1RDR2 exploration well in Malaysia’sSarawak block SK410B, where the company made the biggest

gas discovery in itshistory.

Also on the agendaare nearby explo-ration projects inMalaysia wherePTTEP will seek op-portunities for clus-ter developments.

PTTEP Working with Chevronon Erawan Field Transition

Indianrefin-i n gc o m -

panies are snapping up rare crude grades as the coronavirusoutbreak curtails China's demand for processing, executivesand traders said, with prices for some grades falling by as muchas 15 per cent.

Chinese refiners have slashed output by at least 1.5 million bar-rels a day in February, or over 10 percent, after the virus out-break hit domestic fuel demand, leading to swelling stocks.

"Opportunity for Indian markets is more in the context of whatis happening in China and in recent times we received crudeswhich are appearing to be attractive as compared to their valueearlier," said R. Ramachandran, head of refineries at Bharat Pe-troleum Corp.

Refiners in India, the world's third-biggest oil importer, rarelyget the opportunity to buy suitable grades from areas like theMediterranean and Latin America due to higher freight rates.

However, shippingrates have plunged bynearly half since thevirus outbreak, andafter the U.S. partiallylifted sanctions onpart of Chinese ship-ping firm COSCO.

India Refiners Getting Rare OilCheap as China Demand Slows

Power sec-tor attractedover 1 bil-lion U.S.dollars ofinvestment

capital from six permitted foreign enterprises in first fourmonths of current fiscal year (FY) 2019-2020 which started inOctober, according to figures released by Myanmar's Direc-torate of Investment and Company Administration (DICA).

As of Jan. 31, Myanmar's power sector topped the list withmost investment capital, followed by real estate and manu-facturing sectors.

From FY 1988-1989 to Jan. 31 of FY 2019-2020, 26.4 percentof foreign investment flowed into the country's power sectorwith capital of over 22.2 billion U.S. dollars, the DICA's fig-ures said.

Meanwhile, Myanmar Investment Commission (MIC) allowed106 enterprises with a total of 2.08 billion U.S. dollars of in-vestment capital as of Jan. 31 of present FY 2019-2020.

Power Sector Attracts Over$1b Foreign Investment inMyanmar

6

Snapshot

March 1, 2020

Engineer Md. Belayet Hossainhas been appointed as chair-man of Bangladesh Power De-velopment Board (BPDB).

He will assume responsibilityas the 36th chief of BPDB re-placing chairman SayeedAhmed, according to a notifi-cation of Power Division.

Engineer Belayet has beenworking as a member of the governing board responsible forsupervising production of the state-run organization.

Engr Belayet NewBPDB Chairman

The governmentprovided Tk52,260 crore assubsidy topower sector inthe last 10

years, State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral ResourcesNasrul Hamid told parliament recently.

The minister said this in reply to a query from Awami LeagueMP Didarul Alam from Chattogram-4.

Nasrul said the average cost of generating per unit of electric-ity for both public and private sectors is Tk 13-14 (furnace oilbased), Tk 25-30 (diesel based) and Tk 2.5-3.0 (gas based).

However, he said, the cost of per unit supply of electricity atthe bulk level of Power Development Board is Tk 5.82 and itsaverage sales price at the bulk level is Tk 4.80.

Responding to a question from AL MP Shahiduzzaman Sarkerfrom Naogaon-2, the state minister said gas is currently beingimported as LNG.

At present, the LNG, equivalent to about 590 million cubicfeet is imported daily. In response to a query from Jatiya PartyMP Fakhrul Imam, Nasrul Hamid said the amount of illegalgas connections in Dhaka city, Dhaka district, Munshiganj,

Narayanganj andGazipur is around2.45 lakh.

In these districts,121 spots with theorigin of illegaldistribution lineshave been de-tected.

Power Sector ReceivedTk 52,260cr as Subsidy in10 Years: Nasrul

T h eg o v -e r n -ment is

likely to invite a new round of international bidding for oiland gas exploration in the country’s offshore blocks on March17, the first day of the Mujib Barsho.

High officials from the energy and mineral resources divisionwill meet Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina next week to materi-alize the idea, officials said.

“We have a plan to invite the invite a new round of interna-tional bidding at the beginning of Mujib Barsho,” said a seniorofficial at the Energy and Mineral Resources Division.

The EMRD has already finalized the model production sharingcontract on offshore bidding round, another official said.

Bangladesh currently has a total of 31 open blocks for offer inthe next bidding round. Of them, nine blocks are located in on-shore areas, 14 in the deep sea, and eight in shallow sea areas.

Petrobangla invitedthe latest biddinground eight yearsback in 2012through whichthree shallow-waterblocks and onedeep-water blockwere awarded tocontractors.

But not a single ex-ploratory well wasdrilled by the con-tractors by this time.Petrobangla ratherextended the tenureof PSCs for each ofthe contractors byseveral years each.

Govt Likely to Launch OffshoreBidding in March

bKash signed an agreementwith Omera Home Appli-ances, a concern of EastCoast Group, recently to fa-

cilitate payment collection through bKash from their dealerpoints across the country, said a statement.

Masudur Rahim, Executive Director of East Coast Group andMasrur Chowdhury, Head of Govt. Projects and BusinessSales of bKash, exchanged the agreement on behalf of theirrespective organisations.

bKash Signs Dealwith Omera

Engineer Md. Belayet Hossain

8

Snapshot

March 1, 2020

MudassirMur tazaM o i n ,group di-rector of

Rahimafrooz (Bangladesh) Ltd, has recently been awardedwith AsiaOne Young Asian Entrepreneur 2019-20 by AsiaOneMagazine and URS Media.

The award giving ceremony was held at the 13th edition ofAsian Business & Social Investor Forum 2019—20 in Bangkok,Thailand, according to a statement.

Rahimafrooz is one of the largest business groups inBangladesh, consists of eight strategic business units and sev-eral other affiliations.

Global Accolade foRahimafrooz Group Director

The 51st Annual Gen-eral Meeting (AGM)of Eastern LubricantsBlenders Limited

(ELBL) was held in Chattogram city recently, says a statement.

Chairman of BPC and ELBL board Md. Shamsur Rahman, alsoa Secretary, presided over the meeting. Directors Md. SarwarAlam, Syed Mehdi Hasan, Mohammed Shahidul Alam, QuaziMohammad Hasan, independent director Advocate MunshiGolam Mostofa, Md. Quamrul Hasan and Company SecretaryAli Absar, other high officials and shareholders were present.

The company's Audited Financial Statements of 2018-19 wasapproved at the AGM. The meet-ing also approved 100 per centcash dividend as recommendedby the board of directors.

ELBL Approves 100pcCash Dividend

Bang ladesh-India Friend-ship PowerCompany (Pvt)Limited (BIF-PCL) organized

a painting competition at Sundarban Mahila College in Ram-pal upazila of Bagerhat district recently in observance of theMujib Barsho, marking the birth centenary of Father of theNation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

Dr Sultan Shamed, Secretary, Power Division attended theprogram as chief guest and distributed prizes among the win-ners, said a press release. Around 200 students from 15schools of Rampal and Mongla participated in the competi-tion and drawn various photos of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mu-jibur Rahman.

Managing Director of BIFPCL Naresh Anand presided overthe program while Joint secretary of power sector Nurul Alom,Deputy Secretary Md Nazmul Abedin, Project Director SCPandey, member bub Md Zakir Hossain, chief engineer Ma-habubur Rahama, Deputy Prohect director Md Rezaul Karim,Rampal attended the function as special guests. Among oth-ers, Rampal Upazila Nirbahi Officer Tushar Kumar Paul, Sid-harth Mondal, DGM (HR), Tariqul Islam, DM (HR), BIFPCL,Mallick Sudhangsu, President of Khulna TV Reporters Unityand eminent local personalities were present.

BIFPCL Arranges PaintingContest Marking MujibBarsho

Refue l ingstations innine dis-tricts of thec o u n t r y ’ snorthern re-

gion are not getting required quantity of diesel as current supplyis no match for additional high demand for irrigation.

Three depots belonging to state-run Padma, Meghna and Ja-muna oil companies under Bangladesh Petroliam Corporation(BPC) are facing short supply, according to BPC officials.

Of the oil depots, the largest one is located in Parbatipurupazilaof Dinajpur while other two in Rangpur and Chilmariupazila ofKurigram. There has been no diesel at the Chilmari depot sinceJanuary 8.

At least 622 dealers of Dinajpur, Rangpur, Thakurgaon, Pancha-garh, Nilphamari, Gaibandha, Kurigram, Lalmonirhat and Joy-purhat collect diesel from these depots.

At the Parbatipur depot, the daily demand for the oil increasedto 21,00,000 liters from 15,00,000 liters in one week as it ispeak time for irrigation in which diesel is used to a large extent,said the officials.

Refueling Stations inNine Northern Districts NotGetting Required Diesel

Six membersof a family suf-fered burnafter a firebroke out fol-

lowing a leakage in gas cylinder pipe at Dukhiabari village inSirajganj Sadar Upazila recently.

The injured are - Sanawar Munshi, 60, son of Saheb Ali,Sanawar's wife Nilufer Khatun Lily, 55, their son Saidul Islam,38, his wife Nazira Khatun, 35, their daughter Sumaia Khatun,2, and Mehedi Hasan, 10.

Manzil Haque, deputy assistant director of Sirajganj Fire Service,said the fire broke out after an explosion as there was a leakagein the gas pipe.

A firefighting team rushed to the spot and extinguished the fire.

The injured were admitted to Sirajganj 250-bed BongamataSheikh Fazilatunnesa Mujib General Hospital for treatment.

Six of a Family Injured inSirajganj Gas Leakage Fire

9

Cover

March 1, 2020

Since announcing the election man-ifesto by Awami League ahead ofthe general election in 2008, the

people of Bangladesh started expectingthat the nagging energy crisis might goand they would get the energy at an af-fordable price. The political party as-sumed office and after a while theenergy supply situation started improv-ing. It formed the government for twonext terms with similar commitment.The energy supply situation continuedto improve. Though there is room forfurther improvement, the electricity sup-ply has by now improved a lot — at leastthere is almost no loadshedding at pres-ent. What the people now experience isnothing but some disruptions in trans-mission and distribution systems. Peopleseemed more or less satisfied with thepresent energy supply situation, but theymight not expect that the prices of en-ergy would increase to the present level.The Awami League had committed tosolve the then crisis and make availablethe energy. Their government did it,though partially and based on expensiveoptions. What is more concerning is that

they did it for the consumers but atmuch higher cost. The government,however, recognized that the cost ofpower would increase for the timebeing due to the contingency measuresbut, at the same time, had committedthat the cost would come down gradu-ally as soon as the baseload powerplants come into generation. It has

failed to bring in the low cost generationplants within the planned period. Thecost of power generation continued torise while the people are compelled toshoulder the burden. While the bills fordomestic users went up substantially,the people have to pay increased pricesfor everything from kitchen items totransportation. All these happened due

mainly to the energy price hike and itsspill over effect on all other sectors. Peo-ple seemed got frustrated and startedtalking about the failure of the AwamiLeague government — the successor ofBangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahmanwho had a brave dream of ensuring en-ergy supply at cheaper price as a meansof developing the country as a ‘Sonar

Bangla’ (Golden Bengal).

The government failed to bringthe baseload power plantstimely and showed hardly anysuccess in hydrocarbon explo-ration — be it in onshore or inoffshore areas. As a result, ex-pected development of the en-ergy sector did not take placeand affordable energy tariffcould not be ensured. The en-ergy prices going up fre-quently, as a result, creatingburden for the people andcausing industries to graduallybecome less competitive. Thelatest hike in elecgtricity pricetakes place on March 1, 2020.

The year-long birth centenaryprogramme of the Father of theNation is going to start onMarch 17, 2020. The energyand power divisions alsochalked out elaborate year-long program as part of the na-tional program to observe the‘Mujib Barsho’ — the two divi-sions of the Ministry of Power,Energy and Mineral Resourceshave decided to work for oneadditional hour on everyworking day of the year to en-sure quality power for all byMarch 17, 2021 and ensureproper services to the con-sumers. At the same time, theEnergy Division would con-clude multi-client survey bythen and start oil and gas ex-ploration through offshore bid-ding. The five oil distributiondepots would go for completeautomation during the periodwhile the gas sector would becompletely made free of ille-gal connections. The EnergyDivision would also take a

11March 1, 2020

program through its organizations tomitigate misuse of energy.

Over the period of last one decade, therural areas of the country have beenbrought under the electricity coverage.The Power Division has a plan to ex-pand the coverage to 100 percent by theMujib Year. But there is a lack of skilledelectricians for providing necessaryservices to the consumers. The PowerDivision has already trained 7,000 elec-tricians and taken a program to trainaround 3,000 electricians free of cost tocome out of the problem. The divisionhas also decided to reward the employ-ees with Bangabandhu Award to recog-nize their good services while introducea one-stop service to receive com-plaints and settle those, aiming toensure better services for the con-sumers.

In all, the Ministry of Power, Energyand Mineral Resources has plannedto ensure sustainable developmentof the country’s power and energysector and help build Sonar Banglaas dreamt by Bangabandhu. To en-sure development of the country,the energy should be supplied at anaffordable price as well as the serv-ices to the consumers should be en-sured. Besides other priorities of thewar-ravaged Bangladesh, Banga-bandhu had taken initiative to buildSonar Bangla through providing en-

ergy and power to all. As part of it, therights to energy and power for all havebeen ensured constitutionally.

Since the beginning of independentBangladesh, Bangabandhu gave top pri-ority to sustainable development of theenergy sector, aiming to ensure qualitysupply of energy at an affordable pricethrough exploration of own natural re-sources like gas and coal and ensuringtheir optimum utilization. To do that, hegave utmost importance on developinglocal institutions and human resourceswhile taking initiatives to bring foreigninvestment and get cooperation of thefriendly countries. But the initiativesfaced a severe setback following the

brutal killing of Bangabandhu on August15, 1975. Since then, the sector madesome progress especially in oil, gas andcoal exploration activities until 1990.But the overall scenario of the sectorstarted changing fast since the begin-ning of 1990s due to excessive controland conditions imposed by the donors.Financing the exploration and powergeneration activities by the donors al-most came to a halt. However, therewas no crisis of primary energy in thecountry at that time. The entire energyand power sector was gas dependent.

In the 1990s, the international oil com-panies (IOCs) started coming in thecountry under Production Sharing Con-

tracts (PSCs) and discovered newgas fields, including the biggest oneat Bibiyana. Private sector invest-ment in power generation alsostarted coming during this period.The trend continued until 2008, butno mentionable success came innew gas discovery. There was noinitiative to explore oil and gas inthe offshore and mine own discov-ered coal, creating a crisis of pri-mary energy supply in the country.At the same time, the gas supply cri-sis turned serious. The electricitycrisis also became unbearable asthe country could not generatepower commensurate with the de-mand, offering opportunities for the

12March 1, 2020

local private sector to gen-erate power.

During the period from2009 to 2020, the govern-ment started using fuel oilto generate power as acontingency measure andnow the contribution of oil(diesel and furnace) topower generation reachedto more than 40 percent.During this period, gasproducation increased by1,000 MMCFD to around2700 MMCFD — notenough to meet the de-mand. As a result, the gov-ernment has startedimporting LNG since 2018at higher cost. Conse-quently, the governmenthad to increase the gas andpower tariff repeatedly.

According to BERC, thegas price has been in-creased by 230.59 percent from an av-erage of Tk 4.25 per cm in 2009 to Tk9.80 per cm now. Despite that, the gov-ernment has to pay a big amount of sub-sidy. While increasing gas price in Julylast year, Bangladesh Energy RegulatoryCommission (BERC) observed that thesupply of own natural gas would startdeclining in the coming years while theimport of LNG would increase, forcingthe authorities to adjust the gas priceafter certain intervals. However, the ad-

ditional pressure of the price would bedelayed if new gas can be discovered.

The average bulk power supply costwas Tk 2.50 per unit in 2008 when 92percent of the generation was gas de-pendent. Now the gas dependencecame down to 58 percent and oil de-pendence went up to 25 percent. As aresult, the bulk supply cost of power in-creased to 5.67 per unit, including thecapacity charge being paid for the idleplants. The government had to increase

the power tariff by eighttimes during this period toreduce the losses. The latesthike was announced onFebruary 27, 2020. The av-erage retail power tariff hasbeen increased by 187 per-cent to Tk 7.13 per unit onMarch 1, 2020 from Tk3.81 per unit in 2009 whilethe bulk tariff rose to Tk5.17 per unit from Tk 1.90.The government had to paya subsidy of Tk 49,681crore only in the powersector during the periodfrom 2006-07 to 2017-18.

Against this backdrop, theenergy and power sector isgoing to observe the MujibBarsho, with a vow toworking on ensuring sus-tainable energy supply dur-ing the year. There is nopower crisis in the country

at present while gas can be supplied atper the demand, though not 100 per-cent.

Bangabandhu had a dream to ensurepower supply for all the citizen of thecountry and this government also com-mitted to ensure power supply for all inthis Mujib Barsho. The industrial sectorwould also get energy, particularly gas,as per their demand. But the question isat what price they would get the energy.If the price hike trend of last 11 yearscontinues, the energy would no morebe affordable for the general or indus-trial consumers.

Energy experts thought that the price ofenergy and power must be kept afford-able so that the Bangabandhu’s dreamof making the country a Sonal Banglacomes true. But ensuring the price af-fordable would remain elusive unlessthe country could explore the own en-ergy resources like coal and gas. The ex-perts expected that the Mujib Barshowould not be a mere show up, but ayear of taking the right path to increasethe supply of own primary energy thatwould ensure affordable energy supplyand contribute to the sustainable devel-opment of Bangladesh.

13March 1, 2020

EP

The Energy & Power in its cover story titled “A Bump In The Road” and coverinterview of Total Bangladesh Managing Director Monzur Morshed Siddiquipublished in the Vol 17 issue 17 on February 16, 2020 has done some mistakesin providing information. Quoting the EMRD and BERC, the cover story tells that“the total storage capacity of the operators is about 10 million tonnes. The op-erators are already in a position to meet an annual demand of 6 million tonnes.”The actual information is that “the total storage capacity of the operators is about0.1 million tonnes. The operators are already in a position to meet an annualdemand of 6.5-7.2 million tonnes by utilizing this capacity.” The informationwas also mistakenly printed as 10 million tonnes instead of 0.1 million tonnesin the cover interview of Total Bangladesh Managing Director Manzur MorshedSiddiqui.

We regret our inadvertent mistakes.

Editor

Correction

Bangladesh is celebrating the year2020 as “Mujib Barsho (MujibYear)”. The countdown has al-

ready started and the official programwould commence from the 100th dateof birth of Bangabandhu Sheikh MujiburRahman on 17 March 2020. Variousministries and government organiza-tions have chalked out elaborate year-long programs for observing the year ina befitting manner. The Ministry ofPower, Energy and Mineral Resources(MOEMR) is one of the key ministriesaccountable for achieving the sustain-able energy security for ensuring contin-ued impressive economic growth ofBangladesh. Given the present statusand emerging situation, the energy andpower sector has signifi-cant challenges to success-fully confront in 2020.Analysts would appreciatethe government for its suc-cessfully confronting theenergy and power crisisover the past 11 years. Theinstalled power generationcapacity has increasedmanifold. The governmenthas almost reached the na-tional vision of giving ac-cess to power for all. Butsignificant works still re-mains to be done for ensur-ing quality and reliablepower supply at affordablecost to all. Lot of worksneeds to be done in ensur-ing the appropriate mix offuel (domestic and im-ported). Exploration anddevelopment of oil and gasneeds to be greatly expe-dited, mining of own coalneeds to start, efficiency atall segments of power andenergy value chain mustbe ensured, professionalmanagement of power andenergy sector must not be

compromised. And finally, transparencyand accountability must be establishedat all levels of energy and power sectorplanning, development and operation.Many of these works needs reviewingand commencing this year.

Reliable & Affordable Power SupplyThe government claims that Bangladeshhas attained the capacity of over 20,000MW of power generation though itcould not be tested. Despite of this hugecapacity, industries mostly rely on about3000 MW of off-grid captive generationas grid power still cannot ensure reliablesupply due to constraints in powertransmission grid and distribution net-works. Consequently, the highest powergeneration could not exceed 13,000

MW. The presence of huge spinning re-serve causes a substantial amount ofpower remaining idle. The governmentstill has to account for substantial ca-pacity charge. This adds to the generalcost and compels the government toseek power tariff hike almost regularly.The end users have to bear the burnt ofthe failures of the government agencies.If grid power supply could be made af-fordable, the actual demand could havebeen 15,000 MW or more by now. Thecaptive generation would not have re-quired. The government could have ter-minated the contracts of most of the

expensive liquid fuel-based contingency powerplants. Payment of capac-ity charges was not re-quired and frequentincrease of power tariffcould be avoided. TheMujib Barsho must be theyear for expediting projectsin power transmission gridand distribution networks.These must be updatedand modernized to evacu-ate the generated powerseamlessly to the con-sumers. Users may not hes-itate to pay for theeconomic price of powerand energy provided thatquality power on uninter-ruptible basis is supplied. Itis ridiculous that whilehuge installed capacity re-mains idle, people in therural areas still suffer frompower load shedding. Peo-ple have started askingquestions why the con-tracts for expensive liquidfuel-based power plantscannot be terminated?W h y c a p t i v e p o w e r

15

Cover Article

March 1, 2020

Looking Afresh in ‘Mujib Barsho’Saleque Sufi

generation is still required?

Speedy Supply of Power & Energy Act2010 Must Be Done Away With At a very critical situation in 2010, theact was felt necessary giving comfortand assurance to government officials indealing with unsolicited proposals onentrepreneurs for setting up powerplants bypassing the provisions of theprocurement law. One must agree thatthe government has made excessive useof the law. Not all the projects approvedunder this act have been delivered. Theinitial tenure of this contingency act wasfour years and was subsequently ex-tended. But now when governmentclaims to have achieved over 20,000MW of power generation capacity, thisact is no more necessary at all. Such actempowered the bureaucrats in takingdecisions which were at time non-trans-parent. This act should be rescinded in2020 as soon as possible and all theprocurements of services and materialsmust follow the procurement law. Ifnecessary, the procurement law can beupdated to make it time-befitting.

Adoption of Rational Fuel Mix &Appropriate Use of FuelGovernment envisioned achieving40,000 MW of generation capacity by2030 and 60,000 MW by 2041. Thepresent generation capacity of grid-con-nected power in February 2020 is about20,000 MW. It is very much possible forachieving this capacity. But will the de-mand grow to appropriate level by thetarget years that the spinning reserves donot remain at the present higher level.What is the realistic demand projection?The envisioned fuel mix for 2040 is35% coal (34% imported), 35% (owngas and imported LNG) and 30% nu-clear power, import and others. CanBangladesh manage to import requiredcoal setting up enabling coal import fa-cilities? Can they get required invest-ments in coal power plants? CanBangladesh sustain higher price of im-ported energy in global market affectedby regional and global geopolitics? WhyBangladesh should not harness its localdiscovered coal? Why it can not expe-dite exploration of oil and gas in vastunexplored offshore and extensive on-shore frontier areas? Own fuel availabil-

ity will comfort the fuel mix situationmaking this affordable.

Appropriate use of own fuel resourcewas the vision of Bangabandhu SheikhMujibur Rahman. That is why the fatherof the nation had created Oil and GasCorporation (BOGC) and BangladeshMineral Development Corporation(BMDC). That is why he encouraged ac-quiring 5 discovered gas fields fromShell BV in 1975. That is why he couldtake Petrobangla to Bay of Bengal for oilexploration in 1974. In the Muijib yeartaking decision for mining own coal andgoing again big for oil and gas explo-ration must be a priority option.Bangladesh can not really afford to gofor exclusive imported fuel dependencyleaving huge untapped own fuel re-sources underground. It cannot ensuresustainable energy security.

The government has diversified fuel use.LPG is now a major fuel for cooking andautomobiles. LNG is being imported toconfront the gas crisis. Let the Mujibyear introduce an affordable fuel mix forpower and a comprehensive fuel utiliza-tion plan.

Making Energy & Power Sector Opera-tion Truly ProfessionalBangladesh energy and power sectorhas become too much dependent onbureaucracy. The MOEMR exclusivelydominates the sector. The governmentagencies like BPC and Petrobangla havebecome almost non-functional fornosey EMRD. The administration cadreofficials consider these organizations asthe extension of the ministry. The boardsof the companies under these corpora-tions are exclusively manned by admin-istration cadre officials. Bangladeshtechnical and general universities nowproduce graduates many of whom goabroad and perform admirably. Why en-vironment cannot be created for retain-ing most of them in jobs in BPDB,Petrobangla , BPC and in other compa-nies.

Bangabandhu in his time placed hissenior advisers as CEO of BOGC andBMDC. He let them work independ-ently and made them report directly tohis office. Failures of Petrobangla overthe past 20 years have created gas crisis,

huge amount of high quality coal re-mains underground, BPAEX could notgrow. Let Mujib Barsho be the yearwhen the government places line pro-fessionals on top positions in BPDB,Petrobangla, BPC and in the companyboards.

Comprehensive Human ResourceDevelopment The power and energy sector is growinghuge. Modern technology (super criticaland ultra-super critical technology isbeing introduced in power generation),SCADA and Telemetry are being intro-duced for monitoring and supervisingoperation, cyber security of critical in-frastructure have become essential.Bangladesh needs thousands of quali-fied and trained manpower. In 1970s,Bangabandhu sent students to Russia,Germany and other countries for devel-oping qualified and trained manpower.The gas sector professionals were sentto Indonesia and Algeria for training aswell. Now lots of persons are goingabroad for so called knowledge gather-ing — only few of these are useful. In2020, the government must launch acomprehensive training program for en-ergy and power sector officials whereonly appropriate technical and manage-rial persons must be sent. By 2030,Bangladesh will require several thou-sands of trained professionals operatingand maintaining energy and power sec-tor infrastructure and facilities. Someprojects have started working. But theseshould be a national level movement,involving industries, universities and in-stitutions from the Mujib year.

ConclusionWell successes of the present govern-ment over the past 11 years are com-mendable, but the immediate and futurechallenges are also huge. Achieving ac-cess to power for all is an achievementin itself. But how long will it take to getquality and reliable supply? How it canbe made affordable to all? Bangladeshmust not always remain busy in crisismanagement. Let Mujib year be thelaunching year of all-round activities ofthe power and energy sector.

Saleque Sufi;Contributing Editor, EP

16March 1, 2020

EP

There is no shortage of power gen-eration capacity in Bangladeshnow. None can also say that there

is any crisis of LPG for cooking, auto-mobiles and other activities. But therestill exists power loadshedding, stillquality power cannot be supplied onuninterruptible basis at affordable costto all. The government needs adjustingthe power tariff on a regular basis. Onthe other side, huge over-investment inLPG sector has caused attaining hugesurplus LPG storage capacity. LPG op-erators have entered into unhealthycompetition in the market. Overallsafety of LPG sector is threatened andusers are not at all benefiting for theoversaturated market situation. ManyLPG operators are facing possibility ofquitting business for challenges of sur-viving the competition. These are fromflawed planning, unimaginative marketforecasting and improper governmentpolicy. Bangladesh energy and powersector may soon have to embrace un-palatable situation if appropriate actionsare not taken immediately.

Power SectorThe installed generation capacity ofpower (grid and off grid) now is 22,727MW. Of which, the capacity of gridpower, including 1,160 MW importfrom India, is 19,570 MW.

According to the BPDB website, thereexist 2,800 MW off grid captive powerand 357 MW of off-grid solar powergeneration capacity. The highest gener-ation so far achieved for few hours on asummer day on 29 May 2019 was12,893 MW (grid power). The averagedemand of grid power is about 11,000 -11,500 MW in summer. In winter, itdrops below 7000 MW. Consequently,huge generation capacity of grid powerremains unused. The government has topay huge capacity charge to private sec-tor generators. The costs of generationgo higher, as a result. The only remedyis either adjusting the power tariff orproviding subsidy. Even having huge

surplus capacity, the government can-not successfully negotiate with indus-trial consumers for taking power fromthe grid by abandoning the own captivegeneration due to unreliable powertransmission and distribution networksand higher cost of grid power. The gov-ernment also cannot do away with ex-pensive imported liquid fuel basedpower generation partly for political rea-sons and mainly for gas supply crisis.

Chaos in LPG Sector The scenario in LPG sector is moreridiculous. Huge over investment hasput the sector into a great risk. Accord-ing to sources in Energy and Mineral Re-sources Division (EMRD), the annualLPG demand in Bangladesh now is 1.0million tonnes. According to sources atBangladesh Energy Regulatory Commis-sion (BERC), US$ 1.7 billion has beeninvested in LPG sector till June 2019.According to EMRD and BERC, the totalstorage capacity of the operators is now10 million tonnes. They are in a positionto supply about 6.0 million tonnes an-nually. According to government pro-jection, the annual demand by 2025may grow to 2.5 million tonnes and by2030 to 3.5 million tonnes. Even by2040 the national demand may notgrow to 10 million tonnes. This over ca-pacity has already created an unpleas-ant situation. The government allowedfew leading companies to export bulkLPG to neighbouring Indian states. Thatdecision created a lot of controversiesand a very unpleasant incident tookplace that a BUET student was beaten todeath. The government also allowedfew companies to set up autogas fran-chise in what many say in non-transpar-ent manner.

Some 24 private sector companies in-cluding 5 satellite companies are in op-eration. The government has issuedlicenses to 54 companies. Some com-panies are now ready for entering theover-saturated LPG market. Accordingto the EP cover story, four leading com-

panies — Bashundhara, Omera, BM En-ergy and Jamuna Spacetech — supplyabout 6.5 lakh tonnes. Other 20 com-panies are grappling in the market forsharing pies from the remaining 3.5 lakhtonnes. This has led to unhealthy com-petition in the market. The LPG cylin-ders are sold at highly subsidized price.The LPG cylinders are being sold evenat one-third price of manufacturing cost.Most of these are even sold as scraps.LPG liquid is cross filled illegally. Thereis hardly any market watch. The chaoticsituation is leading to serious situationof entire supply chain getting com-pletely unsafe. In this situation, how op-erators with limited investment dare toentering business? This unsafe situationmay lead to many entrepreneurs gettingsick and out of business.

Why Such Situation Created?Many would say this chaotic situationhas been created for lack of coordina-tion among the different enterprises ofpower and energy sector. There hasbeen no consistency in policy and thereexists poor coordination among BPDB,Petrobangla and BPC. The statutorybody, Bangladesh Energy RegulatoryCommission (BERC), also lacks capacityfor enforcement and compliance of acts,policies and regulations. For all these,consumers cannot completely enjoy thefruits of massive development of effortsof the energy and power sector.

At end 2009 and early 2010, a high-powered government delegation led bythe Prime Minister’s energy advisor dur-ing roadshows of Bangladesh powerand energy sector in Singapore, Londonand New York categorically mentionedthat the short-term contingency actions(liquid fuel-based generation) for 3-5years would create power tariff in-crease. But from 2014 and onwards, thetariff would start normalizing due to tra-ditional fuel-based power plants cominginto operation. But in reality, the powertariff continues increasing though powergeneration capacity now is way abovethe actual demand. Industries cannot bemotivated for relying on grid power. Alltraditional fuel-based power generationmega projects are running at least 3-5years behind the schedules. The gov-ernment policymakers definitely got

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Special Article

March 1, 2020

Curses of Having PlentyKhandker Abdus Saleque

misguided by the bureaucracy dominatedpower and energy sector management.

Lack of Coordination Among Enterprises The government initiatives of mega proj-ects in power and energy sector got im-peded for lack of coordination amongdifferent enterprises of power and energysectors. Petrobangla miserably failed intaking required actions for exploitingdiscovered coal reserve. Very little hasbeen done in expediting oil and gas ex-ploration at onshore and offshore. IfPetrobangla could ensure meeting thefuel demand of gas-based power gener-ation, the contracts of many of the im-ported liquid fuel-based power plantscould be scrapped by now. Petrobanglamade inordinate delays in importingLNG. Plans for too many FSRUs andsome small FSRUs were wrongly con-ceived and after wasting time and en-ergy abandoned. As of now, Petrobanglasupplies only 560-600 MMCFD ofRLNG. Capacity charges are being paidto FSRU owners as they have capacityfor supplying 1000 MMCFD RLNG frommid-2019. National gas reserve contin-ues depleting. No new RLNG may beadded above 1000 MMCFD before2025. The offshore exploration cam-paign still remains uncertain.

The government effort for imported fuel-based power generation is leading touncertainties. The first unit of 660 MWcapacity of 1320 MW Payera powerplant cannot come into commercial op-eration for uncertainty over coal trans-portation and inadequate powerevacuation capacity. The planned coalport / terminal at Payra being imple-mented by Payra Port Authority looksuncertain. It will be impossible to trans-port coal using traditional coal carriersthrough continuously dredging about 90KM port channel. Apart from coalpower plants at Matarbari, other im-ported coal power plants elsewherewould suffer for coal transportation.Hence fuel mix crisis is growing big forlack of coordination among differentagencies.

Success of Government isOvershadowedThe present government over the past11 years has made milestone achieve-

ment in many areas including powerand energy. By this time, the huge suc-cess in increasing power generation ca-pacity could create situation for creatingsustainable energy security — supplyingquality power and energy to all on un-interruptible basis at affordable cost. Butheavily bureaucratic control of powerand energy administration has createdthe present situation. Ministry of Powerand Energy considering BPDB,Petrobangla, BPC and companies as theextension of the ministry has added tothe crisis. The government must rethinkthe strategy. BERC requires to bestrengthened with young dynamic qual-

ity professionals instead of consideringit as retirement resorts. Power and En-ergy companies must be left to line pro-fessionals.

It is usual that the power and energysector suffers for lack of generation andproduction capacities. But in case ofBangladesh, it is the curse of plenty forpoor vision and lack of professionalmanagement. The government urgentlyneeds policy revisions to get out of it.

Khandker Abdus Saleque; NRB, Energy Professional

18March 1, 2020

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The technology group Wärtsilä hasbeen awarded to supply a 78 MW

engine power plant on a fast-trackbasis in order to support the growth ofan industrial complex in Bangladesh.

The order was placed in November byJamuna Power, a part of the JamunaGroup, one of Bangladesh’s largest in-dustrial conglomerates.

The plant will be installed at the Ja-muna Industrial Park project in thenortheastern part of the country, and itwill operate on eight Wärtsilä 34SGengines fueled by gas.

The industrial park is currently operat-ing on electricity from the nationalgrid. However, as more and more fac-

tories are being built, independentpower generation is needed to ensurea reliable supply of electricity, and tocontrol the cost of that supply.

The continued development of thecomplex is largely dependent uponhaving an own power plant for the in-dustrial units, which is why Wärtsilä’sability to deliver on a fast-track basiswas an important factor in the awardof the contract.

“An uninterrupted power supply is abasic need for industry, and to ensurethis we need to have our own captiveplant. Wärtsilä has a strong presencein Bangladesh with a first-rate trackrecord and excellent support capabili-

ties. What ismore, they candeliver theplant quickly. Itwas an easydecision for usto chooseWärtsilä,” saidMr ShamimIslam, Manag-ing Director, Ja-muna PowerLtd.

Wärtsilä Gas Power Plant toFacilitate Growth of Bangladeshi

Industrial Complex

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BIMSTEC Sec-retariat in col-l a b o r a t i o n

with USAID-fundedprogram titledSouth Asian Re-gional Initiative forEnergy Integration(SARI/EI) on Febru-ary 25 -26 organ-ized a conferenceat the BIMSTECSecretariat, Dhakaon Enhancing En-ergy Cooperation inthe BIMSTEC re-gion.

Government offi-cials, diplomats, energy experts andthink tanks from BIMSTEC MemberStates attended the conference. Thespeakers emphasized the need to har-monize the operational, legal and regu-latory frameworks of the BIMSTECcountries for implementing an intercon-nected regional electricity grid.

The conference was inaugurated by Dr.Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury, BB, and En-ergy Adviser to the Prime Minister ofBangladesh; Ambassador M ShahidulIslam, Secretary General of BIMSTEC;and Derrick S. Brown, Mission Directorof USAID/Bangladesh.

Inaugurating the conference, the EnergyAdviser emphasized that Bangladeshhas made substantial investments in cre-ating infrastructure for power trade withIndia and is in discussions with Nepaland Bhutan for trilateral power trade.

He also mentioned about Bangladesh’seagerness to expand energy trade withMyanmar. He called upon developmen-tal partners to mobilize investments andcreate an enabling environment forpower trade.

Emphasizing the importance of in-

creased regional cooperation in the en-ergy sector in the region, Ambassador MShahidul Islam, Secretary General ofBIMSTEC said: “The region is one of thefastest growing economies in the worldand it is heavily dependent on energyimports. BIMSTEC wants to promote en-ergy security in the region by promotingpower trade and development of cleanenergy resources such as hydropowerand renewable energy”.

Mr. Derrick S. Brown, USAID MissionDirector to Bangladesh, said: “USAID isfortunate to partner with BIMSTEC, toaddress some of the common critical is-sues, such as to create an enabling en-vironment that supports cross-borderpower trade, establishment of a power

market, and createconsensus and sup-port from the keydecision-makersand stakeholders”.

BIMSTEC, a re-gional organizationwith its permanentSecretariat inDhaka, brings to-gether seven coun-tries from Southand Southeast Asia— Bangladesh,Bhutan, India,Myanmar, Nepal,Sri Lanka andMyanmar — to pro-

mote regional cooperation for rapideconomic development.

In 2018, BIMSTEC concluded a Memo-randum of Understanding for Establish-ment of the BIMSTEC GridInterconnection to facilitate electricitytrade among member countries througha region-wide grid to achieve energysufficiency.

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Report

March 1, 2020

Thousands of CNG-run vehicles areplying the roads across the country

with date-expired gas cylinders puttingthe passengers’ lives at risk of accident.

A total of 5, 04, 538 vehicles are usinggas cylinders in the country.

Of those, 95,612 cylinders wereretested from the au-thorized places so farwhile 4,08,926 re-main un-tested.

Rupantarita PrakritikGas Company Lim-ited (RPGCL) dis-closed the

information from their study data. Atleast 53 vehicle cylinders blast inci-dents occurred in the last 11 years, re-sulting death and injury to manypeople, says the RPGCL.

There is a regulation that every vehi-cle’s gas cylinder must go through test

after every five yearsto confirm its fit-ness.

But most of theowners of the vehi-cles run by the CNGdo not follow therule.

Untested Gas Cylinder Use Rampant

BIMSTEC to Promote RegionalElectricity Grid

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Report

March 1, 2020

State Minister for Power,Energy and Mineral Re-

sources Nasrul Hamid re-cently directed the officials ofDhaka Power DistributionCompany Ltd (DPDC) to in-crease the use of technologyto ensure customers’ satisfac-tion.

He came up with the direc-tive after inaugurating theBangabandhu Corner at theDPDC headquarters in thecity on the occasion of birthcentenary of Father of theNation Bangabandhu SheikhMujibur Rahman.

He said thePower and En-ergy Ministryhas announced

the Mujib Year as a ServiceYear.

“You have to work an extrahour every day in the MujibYear and go to customers toensure better services,” hetold the DPDC officials.

In the function, he inaugu-rated block-chain technologybased-prepaid card service toensure prompt service.

The function was also ad-dressed by Power SecretaryDr Sultan Ahmed, DPDCmanaging director BikashDewan.

Bangabandhu CornerLaunched at DPDC

The spread of the coron-avirus in and outside of

China and subsequent fall inoil prices in internationalmarket turned to be a 'boon'to Bangladesh PetroleumCorporation (BPC).

The BPC, which was incur-

ring loss before the spread ofnovel coronavirus, COVID-19, is now reaping profit rid-ing on the slump in global oilprices, said a senior BPC of-ficial.

The price of Brent crude, thebenchmark in international

oil prices, wasquoted around$ 57 a barrelas on February21.It was over$70 per barrelon January 07,2020 in regu-lar futuresmarket.

Falling Oil Prices Prove to beBoon to BPC

Prime Minister SheikhHasina recently said the

government will "light upevery house across the coun-try" within the Mujib Borsho(birth centenary of Banga-bandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rah-man) by bringing all underelectricity coverage.

"Some 40 out of our 64 dis-tricts are now under full elec-tricity coverage. We've beenable to ensure cent percentelectrification of villages in410 upazilas. We'll light upevery house in Bangladeshby bringing the remainingdistricts and upazilas (undercent percent electrification)by the 'Mujib Borsho', andwe've been working toachieve this goal," she said.

The premier said this whileinaugurating cent percentelectrification in seven dis-tricts and 23 upazilas of 18other districts, and a 114MWheavy fuel oil-fired powerplant in Feni.

Through videoconferencingfrom Gono Bhaban in thecapital, she also opened theSheikh Kamal IT Incubatorand Training Centre con-structed at BangabandhuSheikh Mujib Hi-tech Park inRajshahi.

The seven districts whichcame under electricity cover-age in their entirety are:Dhaka, Feni, Gopalganj, Na-tore, Pabna, Joypurhat andMeherpur.

Will Light Up Every House byMujib Barsho: PM

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The spot market for MiddleEast crude cargoes loading inApril was virtually non-exis-tent this week, as demandcontinues to be depresseddue to the coronavirus out-break. 'Buyers are waiting forcargoes to become evencheaper than they are now,'said sources.

If the crisis over coronavirusoutbreak continues, theglobal oil prices might slipfurther making the BPC fis-cally healthier.

The BPC counted profitworth around Tk 3.0 per litre

in diesel trading last weekdue to lower global oilprices.

Diesel is the main petroleumproduct that the BPC importsto meet domestic demand inpower plants, transports, irri-gation and industries.

The state-run petroleum cor-poration imported around5.0 million tonnes of dieseland 200,000 tonnes of fur-nace oil last year, which isexpected to increase in thecurrent year, said the BPC of-ficial.

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March 1, 2020

Apilot project to takeoverhead cables under-

ground in Dhanmondi areaof the capital faces delaydue to the outbreak ofdeadly coronavirus in China.

Dhaka Power DistributionCompany Ltd (DPDC) couldnot start its underground ca-bling pilot project as perschedule as the team of aChinese contractor has beenstuck in Wuhan due to theprevalence of coronavirus,officials said.

According to sources at theDPDC, the project’s workwas supposed to start in thefirst week of January.

“But the entire team of the

Tabian Electric Apparatus(TBEA) Co. Ltd, the Chinesegovernment-selected con-tractor which won the proj-ect work, has got stuck inWuhan”, said a senior offi-cial at the DPDC who isdealing with the project. Theofficial, who preferred not tobe named, said the TBEA of-fice has been closed inWuhan and now it is uncer-tain when the office will re-open.

He said only a few of the of-ficials of the Chinese com-pany are now in Dhaka.DPDC officials communi-cate with them throughvideoconferencing to avoidany trouble.

Underground Cabling ProjectFaces Delay

State-run Petrobangla hasplanned to initiate off-

shore survey this year as therequired scrutiny for signingthe final deal with the rele-vant contractor is complete.

"We are expecting to initiatethe multi-client seismic sur-vey this year," said an officialat Petrobangla.

He said the final deal withthe Norwegian-US joint ven-ture, TGS-Schlumberger, toinitiate the survey that would

help locate potential hydro-carbon (HC) reserve sites inthe country's territorial waterin the Bay of Bengal is likelyto be signed soon.

The bid winner TGS-Schlum-berger is expected to survey22 offshore hydrocarbonblocks.

The blocks cover 81,000-square kilometers having thedepth ranging from 20 metersto 2,500 meters in the Bay.

On completionof the survey, theJV company willbe able to sell theseismic data tothe interested in-ternational oilcompanies, orIOCs.

US­Norwegian JV to LaunchOffshore Survey This Year

The household consumersof five more areas in the

capital are going to get pre-paid gas meters within thisyear as Japan InternationalCooperation Agency (JICA)has approved an additionalfunding for an ongoing proj-ect of Titas Gas.

"We've already received JICAapproval for funding installa-tion of 120,000 additionalprepaid gas meters of theproject," said an official atTitas Gas Transmission andDistribution Company Ltd.

He said now a process is un-derway to receive necessaryapproval of the PlanningCommission through a re-vised development projectprofile (DPP).

Titas Gas officials said the or-ganization is getting ready toimplement the prepaid gasmeter project in new fiveareas of Dhaka aimed at re-ducing the wastage of naturalgas.

The areas are Paltan, Ramna,New Market, Khilgaon and

Segunbagichawhich aremainly lo-cated in thecentral part ofthe city underthe DhakaSouth CityCorporation(DSCC).

Dhaka’s Five More Areas Likely toGet Prepaid Gas Meters from July

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Electrical short circuit was aleading cause of fire inci-

dents in residential and indus-trial buildings across thecountry last year, official datarevealed.

The electrical short circuits re-sulted in 8,644 fire incidentsor 39 per cent of all firesacross the country in 2019,causing over Tk 2.32 billion inproperty damage, accordingto the Bangladesh Fire Serviceand Civil Defense (BFSCD)data.

In 2018, the short circuitscaused 7,825 fires, damagingproperty worth over Tk 2.04billion.

Fire from burners or stoves,cigarette butts and burningashes were other major causesof fires in 2019, the datashowed.

Stove firet r iggered4,428 fireincidents

(18 per cent) while cigarettebutts sparked 4,153 fires (15per cent).

And burning ashes causednearly 3.0 per cent of fire in-cidents. The same number offire incidents was caused bykids while playing with fire,according to the data.

However, the causes of some7.0 per cent of fire incidentscould not be known.

Besides, 19 fire incidents(0.18 per cent) took place inships during the period and 12fire incidents (0.2 per cent) inaircraft, the BFSCD data re-vealed. The fire departmentpersonnel inspected 7,114 in-dustrial units, factories and of-fices in 2019 to ensure firesafety and security as per itsregular duty.

Short Circuit Caused 39pcFire Incidents Last Year

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March 1, 2020

The government is planningto reduce power tariff for

industrial units in fresh tariffadjustment scheme as a high-powered committee for powerdivision suggested bringingdown electricity price to Tk0.67 per kilowatt hours for in-dustrial units.

The committee suggested low-ering the power tariff as2800MW of non-grid captivepower is using its own elec-tricity for industrial produc-tion.

Now, Industrialists are usinggrid electricity at a cost of Tk8.So, they are not interested inusing non-reliable ‘costly’ gridpower, an official said on con-dition of anonymity.

He said a total of 1771 indus-trial units have so far receivedcaptive power permission

with a production of 3100MWof electricity.

“Captive Power Plants areconsuming 478mmcfd of nat-ural gas for generating2800MW of electricity perday and we are planning to di-vert 100mmcfd of gas to gridelectricity from it lowering thepower tariff in industrial pur-poses,” the official said.

He said the government rev-enue will not drop in fiscalyear 2020-21 despite thedownward adjustment of tarifffor industrial units.

A high-powered committeehas submitted the proposalbefore the power division sec-retary recently which has alsoforwarded it before theBangladesh Energy RegulatoryCommission (BERC) for con-sideration.

Govt Plans Power Tariff Cutfor Industrial Units

The IEA hosted a high-profilediscussion this month to re-

view how the energy sectorcan meaningfully reducegreenhouse gas emissions.

The speakers included KwasiKwarteng, the Minister forBusiness, Energy and CleanGrowth of the United King-dom, which holds the Presi-dency of the upcoming COP26this year; Michał Kurtyka,Poland's Minister of Climateand President of COP24; andJoan Groizard Payeras, Direc-tor-General at the Ministry forthe Ecological Transition ofSpain, which hosted COP25.

The three COP hosts spoke on12 February, a day after the IEAreleased new data showingthat despite expectations of an-other increase, global energy-related carbon dioxide

emissions stopped growing in2019 even as the world econ-omy expanded by 2.9%.

The discussions at IEA head-quarters in Paris focused onhow real-world energy solu-tions and ambitious policiescan enable the world to reachand even exceed climate goals.The audience of ambassadors,business leaders, investors, en-ergy experts and journalists in-cluded representatives from

A Focus on Peaking GlobalCarbon Emissions

Satoshi Onoda, President ofJERA and Muhammed Aziz

Khan, Founder Chairman ofSummit Group, met withPrime Minister Sheikh Hasinaat her office in Dhaka re-cently.

The Prime Minister was happyto see the private sector part-nership of Summit and JERA indeveloping infrastructure, asthis reflects friendship be-tween the two countries.

Japanese Ambassador toBangladesh Naoki Ito also ap-preciated that the two verylarge companies both thecountries have partnered forthe progress of Bangladesh.

Satoshi Onoda informed thePrime Minister about the on-going project of Summit-JERA-GE consortium building a 583MW Combined Cycle PowerPlant (CCPP) in Meghnaghatwhich is expected to be thelargest CCPP plant inBangladesh when completedin 2022.

He also expressed Summit-

JERA-Mitsubishi consortium’sdesire to invest in on-shoreLNG terminal in Matarbari toensure progress ofBangladesh.

Muhammed Aziz Khan,Chairman of Summit Groupalso reiterated along withSatoshi Onoda their desire toinvest more and provide novelsolutions for Bangladesh.

In addition, honorable Adviserto the Prime Minister onPower, Energy & Mineral Re-sources Affairs Dr Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury, BB,honorable State Minister ofMinistry of Power, Energy andMineral Resources NasrulHamid MP, Secretary to thePrime Minister’s Office (PMO)Md Tofazzel Hossain Miah,the Japanese ambassador toBangladesh Naoki Ito, CEO ofJERA Asia Toshiro Kudama,Managing Director & CEO ofSummit Power InternationalAyesha Aziz Khan were pres-ent at the occasion.

Summit­JERA Meets PM

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more than 40 countries.

"Without solving the challenge

of the energy sector, we haveno chance of solving our cli-mate challenge," Dr FatihBirol, the IEA’s Executive Di-rector, said in his opening re-marks.

"We want 2019 to be remem-bered as the year of peakingglobal emissions and the2020s as the decade of the de-cline in emissions. And the en-ergy sector is ready to be partof the solution."

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March 1, 2020

Manufacture of the firstbody parts of hydro ac-

cumulators for passive coreflooding system intended forUnit 2 of Rooppur NuclearPower Plant (RNPP) inBangladesh has been com-pleted. Petrozavodsk Branchof “AEM-Technology” (con-cern of Atomenergomash, themachine-building division ofthe Russia’s State CorporationRosatom) is manufacturingthe system.

The passive core floodingsystem is a crucial element ofthe NPP's safety system de-signed to release decay heatin the event of a seriouscoolant accident in the reac-

tor's primary circuit. The sys-tem comprises eight thick-walled hydro accumulators,each having a capacity of120 cubic meters. During op-eration the accumulators arefilled with boric acid solutiondesignated for core cooling.

The body of each hydro ac-cumulator is composed ofthree shells, each weighing15.5 tons. Assembled withthe in-vessel and bottomcomponents, a passive coreflooding system accumulatorweighs about 77 tons.

Atomenergomash is the sin-gle-source manufacturer forthe Rooppur NPP reactor hall

and a supplier formost of the tur-bine island equip-ment. Thed i v i s i o n ' sbranches producereactors, steamgenerators, pump-ing and heat-ex-c h a n g i n gequipment.

Significant Progress inManufacture of Passive Core

Flooding System for RNPPThe increasing costly sys-temic losses of the gas

transmission and distributioncompanies have been prima-rily attributed to unwarrantedpolitical influence at a high-level policy meeting.

The meeting also observedthat unless such undue polit-ical influence is restrained,such systemic losses in thegas sector cannot be less-ened.

At the meeting held at thePetrobangla headquarters re-cently, which the top officialsfrom all the gas distributionand transmission companiesattended, a directive was is-sued to curb the systemiclosses within 2020.

The government, too, has is-sued the order to the top offi-cials of the gas transmissionand distribution companiesto reduce their systemic lossas the costly imports of lique-fied natural gas (LNG) isbleeding the government.

Petrobangla chairman ABMAbdul Fattah presided overthe meeting.

Sources present at the meet-ing said Fattah had issued a“strict directive” to the man-aging directors of the gas dis-tribution companies to keeptheir gas connections incheck and make sure a largepile of gas does not get lostsystemically. Most of the sys-temic loss is the amount ofgas the transmission and dis-tribution companies lose outto illegal gas lines.

Interestingly, the systemicloss of Titas Gas Transmissionand Distribution CompanyLtd (TGTDCL)–the largestgas transmission and distribu-tion company–has in-creased dramatically incoincidence with the injec-tion of the costly importedliquefied natural gas (LNG)into the national grid line, ac-cording to a provisional esti-mate.

Political Clouts Spike Losses ofGas Companies

The 1600MW (Megawatts)electricity import from In-

dian power giant Adani-spon-sored Ultra Super CriticalThermal Power Projects(USCTPP) in Godda of Jhark-hand might be delayed for an

indefinite period due to Coro-navirus epidemic in China.

“The outbreak of the said virushas adversely affected themanufacturing activities re-lated to the 1600MW USCTPP,

Godda,” BikashMandal, director ofAdani Power, Indiainformed BangladeshPower DevelopmentBoard (BPDB) earlyof the current monththrough an officialletter.

1,600MW Power Import fromIndia May Face Delay Due to

Coronavirus Outbreak

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He said the consortium mem-bers of EPC contractors of theunder construction powerplants–-SEPCOIII ElectricPower Construction Co Ltd,Electric Power ConstructionCompany Ltd, Tiejun Interna-tional (HK) Ltd and HTG Engi-neering have issued a noticelast month due to the unusualdelay to implement the proj-ects.

SEPCOIII Electric Power Con-struction Co Ltd project man-ager Wang Wenhui informedAdani that the transportation ofmany cities have been closedas per the government of

China order and asking peopleto stay at home and avoid con-tact with the crowd.

“It has seriously restricted en-gineering, procurement, man-ufacturing and logistics for theconstruction of two unit of800MW Godda power plantdue to serious epidemic afterFebruary 2, 2020,” WangWenhui said.

“The said force majeure eventis still continuing and it has ledto a situation which is beyondour reasonable control and ofEPC contractor,” Bikash Man-dal, director of Adani Powertold BPDB. EP

25

Report

March 1, 2020

State Minister for Power,Energy and Mineral Re-

sources Nasrul Hamid hasurged officials of BangladeshRural Electrification Board(BREB) to pursue rural peopleto raise their electricity con-sumption to 1,000 kilowatthour from existing 98 kWh.

"You have to take prompt ini-tiative so that rural con-sumers can increase theirconsumption to 1000 kWh."

He spoke while addressingthe annual conference ofBREB general managers at itsheadquarters in the city re-cently.

The overall development willaccelerate by keeping pace

with the electricity consump-tion, he said.

His call came against thebackdrop of surplus electric-ity as the country's powerproduction capacity is now22,000 MW against the aver-age demand of 12,000 MW.

The demand further drops to6,000 MW in winter and ahuge amount of electricity re-mains idle for lack of de-mand.

For this, the government hasto incur huge financial lossesin paying private power pro-ducers from which it pur-chases electricity at highertariff than its selling rate.

Raise Power Consumptionto 1,000 Kwh

Japan's Ambassador toBangladesh Naoki Ito has

said that the partnership be-tween Bangladesh and Japanhas shown a remarkableprogress represented by themega projects.

He mentioned the third termi-nal of the Dhaka InternationalAirport, Dhaka MRT (Mass

Rapid Transit) and Matabari-Moheshkali area developmentas well as the Kanchpur,Meghna and Gumti secondbridges construction.

The Japanese ambassadormade the remarks while ad-dressing a reception hosted byJapan's embassy in Dhaka cel-ebrating the first birthday of

the Emperor Naruhitoafter the enthrone-ment last year.

Planning Minister MAMannan attended theprogram as the chiefguest.

Mega Projects Manifest BD, JapanPartnership Progress

Bangladesh imported 3.89million tonnes of lique-

fied natural gas (LNG) in2019 which is six timeshigher than the imports in theprevious year.

It brought the country to thesecond position behindChina in terms of Asian LNGdemand growth markets for2019, says a recent report.

This consumption also leftthe country accountable for 8percent of global LNG de-mand growth in that year.

The report also predicted thatdue to a decline in local gassupply in the South Asian

emerging economy, a six-foldincrease in LNG importswould be seen over 2019-40to meet gas demand.

However, the gap betweengas tariffs and supply costwill be the main problem tofacilitate higher LNG im-ports, because the govern-ment supplies gas with asubsidy.

The report suggested revisingthe gas tariff policies to nar-row the gap and to build im-porting infrastructures.

The initial reserves of the dis-covered gas fields inBangladesh were 27.81 tril-

lion cubic feet(TCF). From that,16.44 TCF havebeen used, leavingthe country's totalreserves at only11.47 TCF.

Bangladesh 2nd to China in LNGDemand Growth in Asia

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The government is likely torestrict new power plants

in economic zones thanks tothe country’s surplus electric-ity generation capacityagainst the demand.

The power division has madea request to the BangladeshEconomic Zones Authority(BEZA) in this regard.

“We have requested theBEZA not to allocate land forpower plants in economiczones without the consent ofpower division,” an officialsaid.

He said some power plantprojects have been allowedin special economic zoneswithout the consent of the

p o w e rdivision.

Allowingp o w e r

plants in economic zoneswill contradict with the re-vised power system masterplan-2016, the official said.

The power division has alsorequested the energy andmineral resources division(EMRD) to provide a list ofcaptive power plants asmany industrial units areusing captive electricity fornot getting a smooth supplyof electricity.

Bangladesh has already ex-ceeded the grid electricitygeneration capacity of19,630MW. Besides, a totalof 2800MW of electricity isbeing generated by captivepower plants.

Govt Against New PowerPlants in Economic Zones

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Apanic that has been spreadingover the world has sent a chillthroughout the global economy.

The virus now has created a lot of noisebeyond China, and could be muchmore damaging for the economy thatmight be unthinkable at this point.

The reality is that China is an indispen-sable part of global trade and businessfor most countries including Bangladeshchurning out products like iPhone andever-growing demanding commoditieslike oil and copper. China has the capa-bility to consume luxury products likeexpensive cars and the country canboast its millions of wealthy citizenswho have the ability to spend billions ofdollars for tourism across the world aswell. China had a 4% ownership inglobal economy which grew to as muchas 16%.

The new coronavirus has already killedseveral hundred people and infectedseveral thousands of people across morethan two dozen countries and territoriesmainly the epicenter of China. The au-thority of China has locked downWuhan, the center point of virus andmany more other cities, but the virus

continues to spread.

The virus has the potential to causedeep economic injuries and market dis-location when the world is not ready forsuch an economic disaster.

Due to globalization of business andeconomy, dependence on countries isnow much more interconnected. Thistrend has encouraged companies tobuild supply chains across national bor-ders. Now this virus is snarling supplychains and disrupting companies.

Car plants outside China have beenasked to keep closed after the LunarNew Year holiday. As a result, almost allglobal automakers like Toyota, Volkswa-gen, General Motors, Honda andHyundai could not resume operations inthe international car market. Accordingto S & P global ratings, the outbreak willforce carmakers in China to cut produc-tion by at least 15% in the first quarter.Early in February, Toyota said that itwould keep its functions close forweeks.

Tourism and aviation are also hit hard asChinese customers, who spend hugeamount of money for vacations, are

now locked in their own cities. Dozensof global airlines have either stopped orcurtailed flights to and from China.

Short supplies of auto parts have forcedHyundai to close plants in South Korea.Qualcom, the world’s biggest maker ofSmartphone Chips said that the out-break of virus has caused significant un-certainty of demand for smart phones. Ifthe virus continues its outbreak, then theeconomic damage will increase rapidly.Potential cascading economic effectsworried the leading economists and pol-icy makers. It will paralyze the wholesystem of economy at first internally ordomestically, then regionally and ulti-mately globally. People have beenasked and also preferred to stay athome.

The People’s Bank of China has alreadycut a key interest rate in the first weekof February and pumped substantialamounts of liquidity into the markets toease pressure on banks. Tax breaks andsubsidies are also envisaged. There isstill and anticipation with apprehensionthat the growth will be gradually slow-ing down. Central banks in neighboringcountries like Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Thai-land and the Philippines have also cutinterest rates recently. Besides, manyother countries across the borders arealso planning to follow with similarmeasures.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF)has already issued warning to the oil-rich Gulf Arab States early February.“Rein in your spending or risk exhaust-ing all of your oil savings within the nextfifteen years.”

Saudi Arabia is also on the IMF watchlist, a list that also includes the gas richQatar. Low oil prices coupled withslower oil demand growth due toChina’s crisis threaten the livelihood ofthe fossil-fuel dependent states — and noone is above this risk.

27

World

March 1, 2020

Coronavirus: An Avalanche for Global Economy& Risks for Bangladesh

Serajul Islam Quadir

IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said that the deadly coronavirus epidemic will dent

global growth at the G20 summit in Riyadh

The region’s total wealth, estimated at$2 trillion, will turn negative by 2034 ifoil is to trade at $55 per barrel, IMF said.This price will convert this oil-rich re-gion as a net borrower, IMF predictedwith apprehension.

Risks for BangladeshFears of an adverse effect due to the out-break of novel coronavirus in China onBangladesh’s ready-made garment sec-tor (RMG) cannot be overruled. If thereis negative impact, it will directly harmthe country’s overall economic growthsince RMG is the mainstay and back-bone of Bangladesh’s economy.

Recently Bangladesh’s Commerce Min-ister Tipu Munshi, who is also a leadingbusiness personality in the RMG sector,said that the government was appre-hending an adverse effect in the overalleconomy. The government is in talks toevaluate the prevailing situation andways to tackle any consequences. Wecannot ignore the global economic de-pression caused by the spread of virusmay affect the national economy.

We cannot ignore the vast dependenceon China. Data available from theBangladesh Bank, the central bank ofthe country, shows that the importedcommodities from China were worthclose to $14 billion and the exportedgoods were worth about $850 millionin the fiscal year of 2018-2019.Bangladesh’s fiscal year runs throughJuly to June.

The outbreak of the deadly virus nowhas become a distress for Bangladesh’seconomy and the supply chain of raw

materials for the export-led industries.The second largest economy in theworld is also Bangladesh’s leading tradepartner. More than 40% textile and tex-tile related goods and 30% capital ma-chinery comes from China.

The country’s manufacturing sector,mainly ready-made garment, textile,plastic and leather, is about to face asupply disruption due to the sharpspread of the virus. Uncertainty in themanufacturing sector is a great threat forcountry’s overall economy. Demandsfrom global buyers of apparel goodsmay also fall.

The economic meltdown will affect thecommon people’s lives that are livingfrom hand to mouth substantially withthe increase in prices of day to day com-modities that we import from Chinapushing the inflation up. Collection ofrevenue will also face a setback, mean-

ing that at the end of the day the gov-ernment may not be able to achieve thetargeted objectives that are mapped outin the national budget. New investmentsand execution of present business andinfrastructure related projects will beslower.

To avoid any long term impact the gov-ernment and the manufacturers mustcome up with alternative sources of im-ports. Bangladesh government shouldengage all our foreign missions acrossthe world without any lapse of time tofind out the sources of new supplies.

Serajul Islam Quadir;Executive Editor of the AmChamJournal & Immediate Past BureauChief & Chief Correspondent ofReuters in Bangladesh,serajulquadir26879@gmail.com

28March 1, 2020

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In a recent trip to a gas drillingblowout crater in Sylhet gas field, itwas disconcerting to see that in a

blowout crater approximately 500 m2in area now filled with water where nat-ural gas is constantly being released un-abated. One might add that the releaseof the gas is with significant pressureand localized in certain areas of thepond clearly visible on the surface of thecrater pond (Figure 1 below). To the lo-cals, the crater is known as Utlar Par averbal explanation of the phenomenonthey are observing in the crater of thegas bubbling out just like when waterboils in a pot. The local guides put on ashow for the tourist where they set thesurface gas bubbles on fire (Figure 2below). The blowout occurred in 1955,when a well was drilled to a depth of2,377 meters and gas was found, aftercasing was set, a blowout occurred anda large crater was formed into which thedrilling rig sank. The crater is filled withwater and existing as a pond which istoday still there and known as Utlar Parand vent gas from the subsurface to theatmosphere unabated year round since1955 [1]. In the new nexus of climatechange and global warming andBangladesh is directly being affected bygreenhouse gas emission, it is prudentfor the stylet gas field operators to take

a secondlook at howto mitigatethe unabatedrelease ofnatural gasand put it tob e n e f i c i a luse.

As an appliedresearch proj-ect at the lo-cation wherethe gas wasbubbling wascovered byplastic sheet and the gas collected toshow that the gas can be retrieved veryeasily and put to beneficial use ratherthan unabated release to the atmos-phere. Gas impermeable membrane(geomembrane covers) are commonlyused to cover anaerobic lagoon used inwastewater treatment and the biogasgenerated that bubbles out of the liquidis trapped in a head space between theliquid surface and the membrane andthen is drawn of for beneficial use ascombustible fuel for boilers or for fuel topower combustion engines to generateelectrical power [2]. In the limited ap-plied research as a proof of concept, the

escaping gaswas trappedusing simplegas imper-meable lo-c a l l ya v a i l a b l eplastic sheetand was fur-ther ignitedto show thatit was of suf-f i c i e n tm e t h a n econtent tosupport com-

bustion.

A 500 m2 pond can easily be coveredby geomembrane, the collected gasthen can be put to beneficial use. Thetechnology is proven in the biogas in-dustry [2] and what is required is thewill to try in a different application. Asresearchers our research team is willingto work with the Sylhet Gas Field Au-thorities to explore the viable mitigationoption that we have shown to be viablein a limited scale.

Nadim Reza Khandaker, Ph.D.P.Eng. North South University,Dhaka Bangladesh and College ofScience and Technology,Royal University of Bhutan

Reference:1. Md. Ashraful Islam Khan, Fuad BinNasir. (2014). A Review Over Major GasBlowouts In Bangladesh, Their Effects AndThe Measures To Prevent Them In Future.International Journal of Scientific andTechnology Research. Vol. 3:9. Page 109-113.

2. J. DeGarie, T. Crapper, B.M. Howe, B.F.Burke and P.J. McCarthy. (2000). FloatingGeomembrane Covers for Odour controland Biogas Collection and Utilization inMunicipal Lagoons. Water Science andTechnology Vol.42:10—11 pp 291—298.

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Article

March 1, 2020

Unabated Blowout Crater Natural Gas Release: APotential Source Of Gas

Nadim Reza Khandaker

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Figure 1: Clearly visible release of gas at Utlar Par Sylhet Gas Field

Figure 2: Guides setting fire to the gas bubbles at Utlar Par Sylhet Gas Field

31March 1, 2020

Ascheme to install solar lightingand household power, as well asbiogas and solar cookers and

larger PV plants, has already driven de-ployment of more than 1.2 million sys-tems. Now the government wants morepartners to join the program.

The government of Bangladesh is bid-ding to attract more partner companiesto participate in its ‘Taka’ program,which aims to bring renewable energystreet lighting, cooking stoves andhousehold electricity to every off-gridcommunity in the nation.

State-run renewable energy financebody the Infrastructure DevelopmentCompany Ltd (IDCOL) has already over-seen the installation of more than 1.2million clean energy systems since 2016by working with 58 Bangladeshi partnerorganizations on the program.

With rural off-grid communities receiv-ing household-level solar home systems,community solar projects, solar streetlights and biogas and solar-poweredcookers under the scheme, IDCOL

wants more NGOs, micro-finance com-panies and even private companies tocome on board.

The government is bankrolling installa-tion of the clean energy systems as itaims for renewables to supply 10% ofthe nation’s electricity.

Interested organizations must have a“successful track record and experiencein installation of solar energy systems”,IDCOL has stated, specifying theyshould be profitable; have at least threeyears’ experience of rolling out solar en-ergy programs; and have installed atleast 2,000 solar home systems, 500solar street lights, 50 net metered solarrooftop arrays with minimum generationcapacities of 10 kWp; or any combina-tion thereof.

Interested organizations must also beregistered with appropriate regulatoryauthorities. Private concerns organizedunder the laws of Bangladesh and incor-porated with the registrar of Joint StockCompanies will also be considered.

Bangladesh Appeals for More Partnersto Help Roll­Out Off­Grid Solar

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Amajority of households surveyed inSouth Asian countries, including

India, said solar home systems (SHS)have helped in improving their quality oflife, according to a report by industrybody GOGLA.

SHS is a stand-alone photovoltaic sys-tem, which offers a cost-effective modeof supply of power for lighting and ap-pliances to remote off-grid households.

Established in 2012, GOGLA is a globalassociation for the off-grid solar energyindustry. The report surveyed 949 house-holds in South Asia, mostly in rural India,on solar home system (SHS).

"94 per cent of households report theirquality of life has improved since pur-chasing SHS," the association for off-gridsolar energy industry said in its latest re-port.

While 90 per cent households said theyfeel safer with off-grid solar SHS, 11 per-cent conceded that usage of SHS helpgenerate additional income, as per thereport titled 'Powering Opportunities inSouth Asia research' said.

About 66 percent respondents said chil-dren have now more time to do theirhomework. "SHS help households to un-dertake more economic activities as wellas generate additional income of up toUSD 66 a month and overall this addi-tional work leads to job creation," it said.

About 61 per cent of those surveyed re-ported the grid as their main source oflight and 62 per cent said that SHS istheir secondary source of power.

SHS ImprovingQuality of Life inSoutheast Asia:Report

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33March 1, 2020

India’s renewable energy (RE) sectorseems to be losing steam, even as the

total capacity has reached almost 86GW by December 2019, says the latestState of India’s Environment Annual re-port, released at the 2020 Annual MediaConclave and Anil Agarwal Dialoguerecently.

India has set itself a target of 175 gi-gaWatt (GW) RE capacity by 2022 --mainly in the form of 100 GW solar (60GW utility-scale and 40 GW rooftop)and 60 GW wind. Between 2014 and2018, the RE sector grew from 2.6 GWto 28 GW -- a cumulative aggregatedgrowth rate of around 18 per cent.

But, says the report, “there has been aslowdown in capacity addition and auc-tions due to emerging risks and unad-dressed structural issues.”

Annual additions to solar capacity havedipped drastically to 6.5 GW in 2018-19, from 9.4 GW in 2017-18. In windenergy, against a sizeable 5.4 GWadded in 2016-17, less than 2 GW wasadded annually in the following twoyears.

The capacity auctioned to developershas remained almost constant at 2-3GW. The share of RE in India’s powergeneration in 2018—19 was 10 per cent,a far cry from the national goal of 40 percent share by 2030.

The stagnation, according to the report,is due to a combination of factors affect-ing every aspect from auctions andpower purchase agreements (PPAs) torising costs and payment delays.

India May Find ItDifficult to MeetIts RE Target

Infrastructure Development CompanyLimited (IDCOL) signed facility agree-

ment with Fakhruddin Textile Mills Ltd.(FTML), a concern of Urmi Group, on 23February to finance Rooftop Solar Projectwith a capacity of 2037.75 kWp.

Mahmood Malik, Executive Director &CEO, IDCOL and Asif Ashraf, ManagingDirector, Fakhruddin Textile Mills Ltd.(FTML) signed the agreement on behalf oftheir respective organizations.

Electricity to be produced from this proj-ect will not only reduce electricity bills ofFTML but also reduce the diesel con-sumption during load shedding. In addi-

tion, FTML can export unutilized electric-ity to the national grid under the Net Me-tering Guideline 2018.

Currently the unit cost of electricity fromrooftop solar is below Tk 8.0, whichmakes the proposed investment very lu-crative as the tariff is cheaper than thegrid electricity tariff.

The project will be implemented with atotal project cost of Tk 14.09 crore.Under this facility agreement, IDCOL willprovide concessional loan of Tk 11.27crore. IDCOL plans to finance 300 MWprooftop solar projects by 2022.

IDCOL Extends Financing to FakhruddinTextile for Rooftop Solar Project

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Environment rights groups have ob-served the Sundarbans Day with a

call to save the world's largest mangroveforest considered as a natural shell toprotect the country's coastal areas fromnatural calamities.

Since February 14, 2002, the Sundar-bans Day has been being observed inthe country with the slogan to save andprotect the world's largest mangrove for-est.

Titled World Heritage Site 140,000-hectare mangrove forest lies on the deltaof the Ganges, Brahmaputra andMeghna in the coastal area of the Bay ofBengal. It is facing different man-madethreats, observed experts and rights ac-tivists.

Sundarbans continued to protect the

country's coastal re-gions from cyclonesand other natural disas-ters, experts said call-ing for mass awareness

and government initiatives to make safethe natural shell.

The threats include indiscriminatelydumping different types of non-biodegradable plastic items includingpet bottles and packets in the Sundar-bans.

The dumping of such things continuesunabated mainly due to lack of strictmonitoring and awareness among visi-tors and a shortage of manpower at theforest department, they said.

National Committee for Saving the Sun-darbans (NCSS), Bangladesh PoribeshAndolon (BAPA), Center for HumanRights Movement, and Green Voicejointly organized a rally in the city re-cently with the slogan being 'to love and

Green Groups Call for Stepsto Save Sundarbans

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protect Sundarbans' marking the day.

The rally expressed concern over thefalling fresh water flow in the Sundar-bans, the harmful projects includingRampal thermal power plant and fishingusing poison in the Sundarbans.

34March 1, 2020

The total energy storage market is ex-pected to grow to $546 billion in an-

nual revenue by 2035, according to areport released by Lux Research.

The report, “Global Energy Storage Mar-ket 2019,” estimates that the three maindrivers of energy storage — mobility appli-cations, electronic devices, and stationarystorage — will reach an annual combineddeployment level of 3,046 GWh over thenext 15 years, up from the current 164GWh, with mobility applications makingup the lion’s share of the growth.

“The energy storage industry is poised fora massive increase in annual revenue anddeployment capacity as key innovative

technologies, such as solid-state batteriesand flow batteries, reach commercializa-tion,” said analyst Chloe Holzinger, oneof the report’s lead authors.

“We continue to expect electric mobilityapplications, primarily light-duty passen-ger vehicles, to be the principal long-termdriver of energy storage annual revenueand demand, with a total market share of74% by annual revenue and 91% by an-nual deployed GWh by the year 2035.”

Growth in revenue and deployment forthe energy storage market over the nextthree years will be markedly differentfrom the overall 2035 projections, withplug-in light-duty vehicles remaining thelargest market with a predicted $24 bil-lion increase in revenue by the end of2022.

Lux Predicts EnergyStorage Market WillHit $500b by 2035

Implementation of the ongoing solarpower plant projects that are somehow

dependent on Chinese machinery andmanpower is likely to be delayed by atleast four months due to the coronavirusoutbreak.

“A huge number of Chinese workerswho went back home to spend holidaysare unable to return and join the worksafter the outbreak,” said a top official atthe Power Division who deals with re-newable energy projects.

Coronavirus, now known as COVID-19,has so far killed 1,355 people and in-fected nearly 60,000 others.

Sources at the Power Division said most

of the solar power plants, either in pub-lic or private sector, are somehow de-pendent on Chinese machinery andmanpower.

Official documents showed that 21 solarpower projects, having about 1,220MW capacity, are currently being imple-mented under the Power Division.

Of these, some are being implementedby state-owned Bangladesh Power De-velopment Board (BPDB) where Chi-nese companies are working ascontractors to supply the equipment,system and also engaged in constructionof the plants.

On the other hand, some Chinese com-panies are the sponsors inprivate projects.

“But almost all equip-ment are coming fromChina and Chinese na-tionals are working to in-stall those plants,” saidthe top official of thePower Division, prefer-ring anonymity.

Solar Power Plant Projects Likely to beDelayed Due to Virus Outbreak

Some of the world’s most ambitiouslarge-scale solar projects have been

plagued by delay, ultimately makingthem a financial burden rather than abeacon on the renewable power hori-zon.

Does this mean such projects are out-dated? GlobalData’s power writer An-drew Tunnicliffe looks at the problems.

Tunniclife says: “Chile’s Cerro Domi-

nador solartower and facil-ity is a $1.3bnproject — a com-bined photo-

voltaic (PV) and concentrated solarpower (CSP) facility situated in the Ata-cama Desert. It has been beset with fi-nancial difficulty since it was firstmooted in 2013.

As a result, construction has beenpainfully slow, with the 100 MW PVcomponent only becoming operationalin early 2018.

“Israel is contending with a similar issue.Situated in the Negev Desert, Ashalimpower station comprises three sites eachusing different solar technologies, witha fourth planned. It includes a $1.13bnCSP tower and plant. Since contractswere awarded in 2008, the costs of pro-ducing electricity through CSP and PVhave changed dramatically.”

Transmission Key to Large ScaleSolar Projects, Says Expert

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37

Climate

March 1, 2020

Food and Agriculture Or-ganization of the United

Nations (FAO), in partnershipwith the Department of Envi-ronment (DoE) and environ-ment ministry recentlylaunched a new project aim-ing to strengthenBangladesh's capacity tomonitor environmental emis-sions.

The Capacity Building Initia-tive for Transparency (CBIT)project will be implementedjointly with DoE with finan-cial assistance from theGlobal Environment Facility(GEF).

Environment Secretary ZiaulHasan was present as thechief guest at the launchingceremony in Dhaka.

CBIT will help Bangladeshmeet the requirements of theParis Agreement. The projectwill increase knowledgeabout the sources of green-house emissions and improvedata sharing among min-istries.

This is one of the many CBITprojects that FAO is workingon worldwide, but what isunique in Bangladesh is thefact that the project has a

wider scope, including addi-tional sectors beyond agricul-ture and forestry, which arewaste, energy, and industry.

FAO Representative inBangladesh Robert D Simp-son said: "The global re-sponse to climate changetoday will determine how wefeed future generations to-morrow. Agriculture, includ-ing forestry, crops, fisheriesand livestock production,generate around one-fifth ofthe world's greenhouse gasemissions. This must be re-duced by 2030 to achievethe goal of limiting globalwarming to CO2.”

Mr Simpson stressed the im-portance of the government'sambition and plan to achievethe sustainable developmentgoals (SDGs), which must in-clude a rigorous effort to ad-dress environmental andclimate change issues.

Ziaul Hasan said that theCBIT project will helpBangladesh track its climateaction and build the trust andconfidence that all countriesare contributing their share tothe global effort to addressclimate change.

FAO­DoE Launch Project toMonitor CO2 Emissions

Mentioning that the cur-rent government has

been able to resolve thecountry’s food crisis, Agricul-ture Minister Dr Abdur Raz-zaque recently said climatechange has turned out to bea major concern challengingevery country in the world.

“Climate change is a globalproblem. Agricultural pro-duction is being hampereddue to increase in tempera-ture and soil salinity as wellas heavy rains, droughts etc.After coming to power, ouraim was to eliminate foodcrisis. That’s why we’re nowself-sufficient in food,” hesaid.

The minister was speaking ata seminar on climate changearranged by Bangladesh Cli-mate Change JournalistForum (BCJF) at the Instituteof Diploma Engineers,

Bangladesh (IDEB) Audito-rium.

Dr Abdur Razzaque men-tioned that climate changehas not only affected agricul-ture but also the normal lifeof people. “About 40 percentof the country's population isdirectly involved in agricul-ture. Safe and nutritious foodis essential for building a tal-ented nation.”

Dr Razzaque further said thegovernment has given a lot ofimportance to food securityissue. “We’ve done a lot toboost food production. Vari-ous initiatives, including pro-viding loans to farmers, havebeen taken. We’ve reducedfertilizer prices… we’ve pro-vided various facilities tofarmers. That's why the agri-culture sector has changedradically.”

Climate Change a Big Challengefor All: Minister

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British energy giant BP,under the leadership of

new chief executive BernardLooney, declared recentlythat it aims to achieve "net

zero" car-bon emis-sions by2050, al-

though it did not provide de-tails how it plans to reachthat target.

"BP's new ambition to be anet zero company by 2050 orsooner covers the green-house gas emissions from itsoperations worldwide... andthe carbon in the oil and gasthat it produces," said a state-ment ahead of a speech by

BP Aiming for Net ZeroCarbon Emissions By 2050

Looney on the plans to "fun-damentally transform itswhole organization".

Looney said in the statement:

"The world's carbon budget isfinite and running out fast.We need a rapid transition tonet zero.

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Tiny bits of broken-downplastic smaller than a frac-

tion of a grain of riceare turn-ing up everywhere in oceans,from the water tothe guts offish and the poop of sea ottersand giant killer whales.

Yet little is known about theeffects of these "microplastics"– onsea creatures or hu-mans.

"It's such a huge endeavor toknow how bad it is," saidShawn Larson, curator of con-servation research at the Seat-tle Aquarium. "We're juststarting to get a finger on thepulse."

This week, a group of five-dozen microplastics re-

searchers from major univer-sities, government agencies,tribes, aquariums, environ-mental groups and evenwater sanitation districtsacross the U.S. West is gath-ering in Bremerton, Washing-ton, to tackle the issue. Thegoal is to create a mathemat-ical risk assessment for mi-croplastic pollution in theregion similar to predictionsused to game out responses tomajor natural disasters suchas earthquakes.

The largest of these plasticbits are 5 millimeters long,roughly the size of a kernel ofcorn, and many are muchsmallerand invisible to thenaked eye.

Scientists Gather to Study Riskfrom Microplastic Pollution

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Climate

March 1, 2020

The Department of Envi-ronment recently discon-

nected utility connections of23 dyeing factories and steelre-rolling mills in the capital'sKadamtali and Shyampur forpolluting the Buriganga riverand the air.

The drive, led by Director(monitoring and enforce-ment) of DoE Begum RubinaFerdousi, also fined sevensteel re-rolling mills Tk 1 lakheach for polluting the air.

The drive began at 11:30amand continued until 3:30pmin which representatives ofRab, police, Wasa, Desa, andTitas took part.

"We conducted the driveagainst the dyeing factoriesand the steel re-rolling millsas they did not have ETPs [ef-fluent treatment plants] andenvironmental clearancesfrom the DoE," said Rubina.

The drive is going on in com-pliance with High Court or-ders and it will continueagainst all such 231 indus-tries in Dhaka, she added.

"We severed electricity andwater connections of 23 fac-tories. Gas connections of sixof them were also severed,"the DoE director said.

DoE Punishes 23 Errant Factories

Emissions from fossil fuelproduction of the potent

greenhouse gas methane is 25to 40 percent higher than pre-viously understood, re-searchers reported recently,shining a harsh spotlight onthe global gas industry.

“Scientists have been vastlyunderestimating the amountof methane humans are emit-ting into the atmosphere viafossil fuels,” scientists from the

University of Rochester inNew York, who led the study,said in a statement.

The findings were publishedin Nature. Carbon dioxide(CO2) from burning fossilfuels and deforestation ac-counts for about three quartersof all global warming.

Methane, which comes fromboth natural and manmadesources, is responsible for 16percent.

Experts not involved in thestudy said it would force a re-assessment of the role the fos-sil fuel industry must play incurbing climate change.

Fossil Fuel Methane Emissions‘Vastly Underestimated’

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Finance officials from theworld's 20 biggest

economies (G20) meeting inRiyadh recently reachedagreement on the wording ofa final communique that in-cludes for the first time a ref-erence to climate change,G20 diplomatic sources said.

Compromise language ham-mered out to overcome USobjections retained a refer-ence to the Financial Stabil-ity Board's work examining

the implications of climatechange for financial stability,although it dropped climatechange from its list of down-side risks to global economicgrowth.

One of the sources said itwas the first time a referenceto climate change had beenincluded in a G20 financecommunique, even though itwas removed from the top ofthe joint statement.

Climate Change Included in G20Final Communique

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Climate

March 1, 2020

The International EnergyAgency released its latest

in-depth review of Germanenergy policies recently, wel-coming the country’s boldapproach to its clean energytransition.

Since the last IEA review ofGerman energy policies, theEnergiewende, German for“energy transition,” has beenthe defining feature of thecountry’s energy landscape.

It is an impressive plan fortransforming the country’senergy system to a more effi-cient one supplied mainly byrenewable energy. It aims tophase out electricity genera-tion from nuclear power bythe end of 2022. More re-

cently, the government an-nounced plans for a phaseout of coal by the end of2038.

Germany’s national climatechange strategy is defined inthe Climate Action Plan2050, which sets out alonger-term pathway for sec-tor-specific emissions reduc-tions, as part of theEnergiewende.

Compared with the base yearof 1990, the key goals are toachieve at least a 40% cut ingreenhouse gas emissions by2020 and 80-95% by 2050.Germany has made notableprogress in cutting its emis-sions. In 2019, it had thelargest decline in energy-re-

lated carbond i o x i d eemissions ofany EUcountry, ac-cording toIEA data re-leased lastweek.

IEA Policy Review CommendsGermany’s Efforts to Advance

Clean Energy Transition

2019 was the first yearwhen European Union

member countries generatedmore energy using renewablesources than from coal pro-duction. Europe is gettingcloser to phasing out coalproduction and replacing itwith sustainable sources.

Currently, the EU generatesaround 30% of its energyfrom renewable sources, suchas wind, solar, and biomass.For comparison, this numberwas only 12% in 2000. With

new milestones, by 2030, theEU is planning to generate50% of its energy using re-newables sources.

Deividas Varabauskas, CEOand Managing Partner at SunInvestment Group, explainsthe reasons behind thesechanges, “There are manyfactors determining energygeneration within the Euro-pean Union. This sharp de-crease in hard coalproduction happened due toincreased taxation on CO2,

RE Outpace Coal in EU

The global cost of air pol-lution caused by fossil

fuels is $8 billion a day, orroughly 3.3 percent of theentire world's economic out-put, an environmental re-search group said recently.

The report from the Centrefor Research on Energy andClean Air (CREA) and Green-peace Southeast Asia is thefirst to assess the global costof air pollution specificallyfrom burning oil, gas andcoal.

"We found that the ChinaMainland, the United Statesand India bear the highestcosts from fossil fuel air pol-lution worldwide, an esti-mated $900 billion, $600billion and $150 billion peryear, respectively," the reportsaid.

Particles thrown off by fossilfuel usage account for 4.5million premature deaths

each yeararound theglobe, in-cluding 1.8million in

China and a million in India,the researchers found.

The new figure is in line withWorld Health Organization(WHO) estimates of 4.2 mil-lion deaths each year linkedto ground-level air pollution,mostly from heart disease,stroke, lung cancer and acuterespiratory infections in chil-dren.

Living in the New Delhi areaof India is like smoking 10cigarettes a day, earlier re-search has shown.

"Air pollution from fossil fuelsis a threat to our health andour economies that takes mil-lions of lives and costs us tril-lions of dollars," saidMinwoo Son, clean air cam-paigner at Greenpeace EastAsia.

The global cost for 2018 was$2.9 trillion, the report esti-mated.

Air Pollution Costs $2.9Trillion A Year

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and the growth of renewablesources. Of course, there’s stilla long way to go. Only fivecountries including Germany,Spain, the Netherlands, UK,and Italy were responsible for79% of this decrease. If othermember countries would fol-low, we could see much moreprominent results.”

In 2019, coal production

dropped by 24%, whichquicken the coal phasing outprocess. Gas filled half of thedifference, solar and wind re-placed the other half of thegap. As more Union’s coun-tries agree on reducing coalusage, soon the renewableswill take the wheel of energygeneration in the EU.

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Climate

March 1, 2020

Scientists in Antarcticahave recorded a new

record temperature of 20.75degrees Celsius (69.35Fahrenheit), breaking the bar-rier of 20 degrees for the firsttime on the continent, a re-searcher said recently.

"We'd never seen a tempera-ture this high in Antarctica,"Brazilian scientist CarlosSchaefer said.

He cautioned that the read-ing, taken at a monitoring sta-tion on an island off thecontinent's northern tip onFebruary 9, "has no meaningin terms of a climate-changetrend," because it is a one-offtemperature and not part of along-term data set.

But news that the icy conti-

nent is now recording tem-peratures in the relativelybalmy 20s is likely to furtherfuel fears about the warmingof the planet.

The reading was taken atSeymour Island, part of achain off the peninsula thatcurves out from the northerntip of Antarctica.

The island is home to Ar-gentina's Marambio researchbase.

Schaefer, a soil scientist, saidthe reading was taken as partof a 20-year-old researchproject on the impact of cli-mate change on the region'spermafrost.

The previous high was in the19s, he said.

Antarctica Registers RecordTemperature of Over 20C

The investment will be used todeliver a pipeline of global

projects to lower emissions fromthe oil and gas industry.

Chevron Technology Ventures,the tech arm of Chevron Corp.,is teaming up with two othercompanies to invest in Lon-don-based Carbon Clean Solu-tions. Together with MarubeniCorp. and clean energy privateequity company Wave, thefirms are investing $16 millioninto the (CO2) capture & sepa-ration technology company.

The investment will be used todeliver an existing pipeline ofglobal projects to lower emis-sions from the oil and gas in-dustry. CCSL will also invest inthe development of “con-tainerized” solutions that aimto achieve a $30 per tonnecost of CO2 capture by 2021.

“Chevron is committed to pro-ducing affordable, reliable,and ever-cleaner energy,”Chevron Technology VenturesPresident Barbara Burger saidin a written statement. “We in-vest in breakthrough technolo-gies that both lower emissionsin oil and gas and are integralto low carbon value chains.Our investment in CarbonClean Solutions aims to helpcommercialize and scale car-bon capture utilization andstorage technologies, a keypart of delivering on our com-mitment.”

This timing of the investment isideal, as oil and gas companieshave become even more vocalabout increasing measures todecrease emissions of carbondioxide and other greenhousegases in recent quarters.

Chevron Teams Up on CarbonCapture Investment

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For arresting the alarmingly risingtrend of power and energy prices,the country must initiate actions for

ensuring assured supply of own fuelthrough commencing mining of owncoal and expediting petroleum explo-ration in this “Mujib Barsho”. Any fail-ure to ensure smooth supply of ownprimary fuel will not only affect thecountry’s energy security, it will alsomake uncertain the supply power andenergy at affordable cost and eventuallymaking it extremely challenging to ma-terialize the Bangabandhu’s dreamSonar Bangla.

Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commis-sion (BERC) member Md. Maqbul-E-Elahi Chowdhury, who is the formerDirector of Petrobangla, said this in anexclusive interview with Energy &Power Editor Mollah Amzad Hossain inearly January.

The birth centenary celebration pro-gram of Bangabandhu Sheikh MujiburRahman will be ceremoniouslylaunched on 17 March 2020. The Min-istry of Power, Energy and Mineral Re-sources (MPEMR) has also adoptedprograms as part of the national celebra-tion. How do you look at it?

MPEMR has taken an appropriate initia-tive. But, in my opinion, it has to be as-certained how much the dreamer andarchitect of Bangladesh could achieve,what he could not achieve and what re-mained incomplete in the very vital en-ergy and power sector in his very briefperiod. On the other hand, it also needsto be assessed and ascertained what thisgovernment achieved over the past 11years in office. These must be guidedbeacons for the government for plan-ning and plotting for implementation inthe Mujib Barsho for the future of the

energy and sector.

Bangabandhu after returning home fromcaptivity of Pakistan Military Junta inJanuary 1972 immediately initiatedmassive plans for invigorating energyand power sector for creating basis ofeconomic emancipation. His politicalparty is now in state power for the fourthtime, third in succession. Could they fol-low the footprint of the great visionaryleader? If not, why they could not do so?

Bangabandhu had rightly realized thatrelying exclusively on agricultureBangladesh may not go too far for eco-nomic development. It must go for rapidindustrialization. For that it would re-quire essentially sustainable energy se-curity. He also realized that exclusivereliance on imported primary fuelwould not facilitate achieving the eco-nomic development through industrial-ization. He placed highest emphasis onexploring and developing own primaryfuel — oil, gas and mineral resources. Hesigned a BDT 20 crore agreement withformer Soviet Union in 1972 for gas sec-tor cooperation. The activities of Geo-logical Survey of Bangladesh (GSB)were expanded with the firm resolve fordiscovering new resources.

Anglo Dutch Company Shell BV wasengaged in Bangladesh for oil and gasexploration, production and marketing.Titas Gas Company was advised to ex-pand its network which Shell did notagree considering it as non-profitablebusiness operation. The governmentcreated pressure on Shell for selling itsownership of five discovered gas fieldswhich they accepted after a bit of hesi-tation. Talks for developing JamalganjCoal field also started with India duringthis time. Unfortunately the self-pro-claimed killers murdered Bangabandhu

along with most members of his familywhen he was on massive developmentactivities. Bangladesh could continuegetting supply of cheaper gas from the 5major gas fields that Bangabandhu man-aged to take over from Shell at a nomi-nal cost. Power price could remainwithin affordable limit for a long time asthis cheap gas produced almost 90 per-cent of the power generated. Discoveryof Barapukuria, Khalaspir and Dighiparacould be possible following Banga-bandhu’s designed mining strategy.Bangabandhu took historic initiative foroffshore oil exploration for absorbing oilshock of 1970s. Amended PetroleumAct was adopted in 1974, creating

Md. Maqbul­E­Elahi Chowdhury

It will be a befitting present to thenation if the government can initi­ate actions in the Mujib Barsho.That will be the most befitting re­spect shown to the Father of theNation. I am optimistic that the

government can take such decisionabsorbing all undue, uninformed

myths and propaganda.

Start Hydrocarbon Exploration, CoalMining in This ‘Mujib Barsho’

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Interview

March 1, 2020

avenues for Production Sharing Con-tract (PSC). Maritime law was promul-gated and Bangladesh was the pioneerin the region. PSC was concluded with6 IOCs for 6 blocks in the Bay of Bengal.However, an effort for engaging a JointVenture (JV) company of local and inter-national could not achieve success.

The present government has driftedaway from Bangabandhu’s energy sec-tor doctrine. Of course, the Prime Min-ister turning deaf to so calledpropaganda of “Bangladesh Floating onOil and Gas” refused to export gas inher first term. But during her time, hergovernment also could not encourageforeign investment in oil, gas and min-eral exploration ignoring the ill-moti-vated propaganda of a section of civilsociety. Now it is time to open the on-shore and offshore areas of Bangladeshfor oil and gas exploration following thefootprint and vision of Bangabandhu.For this, model PSC must be furtheramended bringing required changes ingas pricing similar to that applicable forshallow offshore, for Western Region,Deeper High Pressure Prospects of dis-covered gas fields, complicated struc-tures of Sylhet and Chittagong HillTracts. On the other hand, decision forstarting open pit mining at NorthernFlank of Barapukuria and mining fromDighipara through JV must be takensoon. Mine development must be donefollowing recommendation of Pricewa-terhouseCoopers (PWC). In addition,the government must take decision ofmining from Phulbari after reviewingthe Scheme of Development (SOD),which is gathering dust at the govern-ment disposal, by engaging a competentmining consultant.

It will be a befitting present to the nationif the government can initiate actions inthe Mujib Barsho. That will be the mostbefitting respect shown to the Father ofthe Nation. I am optimistic that the gov-ernment can take such decision absorb-ing all undue, uninformed myths andpropaganda.

The price of gas increased by 230 per-cent and bulk tariff of electricity in-creased by 272 percent and retail priceby 187 percent over the past decade.

Do you think sustainable economic de-velopment is possible in this ambienceof price increase?

Please note that the power tariff islargely dependent on the price of fuel.Fuel import has increased as own re-serve of discovered fuel has diminishedover time. Present plans will continue

increasing fuel import. That will haveimpacts on price of energy and powerand would have the domino effect onprices of all essential commodities. I donot think that this would auger well forsustainable economic development.

Petroleum act 1974 vested ownership ofall natural resources to the people ofBangladesh. Five major gas fields could

be acquired from Shell BV followingthat act, but unfortunately failed addingsignificant field growth so far. What doyou think needs to do?

It is not true that nothing has been done.Two Petrobangla-owned companies —BGFCL and SGFL — are constantly en-deavoring for enhancing production. Asa production process of secondary re-covery, some wellhead compressorshave been installed and more are beingprocured. These will extend productionlife of existing wells at designated pres-sure.

We must take note that Petroleum com-panies usually have resource managers.20 percent of company earnings arereinvested in and resources manage-ment further development. These arenot being done in Bangladesh. We needwell planned investment to investigateright now whether we have exploitableeconomic resource in the high pressurezone of 5 major gas fields. This wouldprolong the local gas supply from theknown fields.

Exploration and development of ownnatural resources were given top priorityfor keeping economy immune from oilshock of 1970s. There are allegationsthat the present government has driftedaway from that policy. What are yourviews?

For political reasons, volatility has beencreated in the global energy sector. Out-break of Coronavirus has kept the oildemand suppressed momentarily. But itmay burst anytime. Political turmoil inthe Middle East may create oil shock.We must look for alternate source ofsupply other than Middle East. But wemust implement fourth industrial revo-lution for achieving the Sonar Bangladream. Energy security and sustainablesupply of power at affordable cost aremust for this. There is no option but pur-suing Bangabandhu’s footprints of ownprimary fuel exploration and exploita-tion. But the present government is notwalking along that route.

Energy sector of Bangladesh is gettingincreasingly dependent on importedfuel. Do you think sustainable develop-ment is possible following this route?

42March 1, 2020

The present governmenthas drifted away from

Bangabandhu’s energysector doctrine. Of course,the Prime Minister turning

deaf to so called propa­ganda of “Bangladesh

Floating on Oil and Gas”refused to export gas in herfirst term. But during hertime, her government alsocould not encourage for­eign investment in oil, gasand mineral explorationignoring the ill­motivatedpropaganda of a section ofcivil society. Now it is timeto open the onshore and

offshore areas ofBangladesh for oil and gasexploration following the

footprint and vision ofBangabandhu.

Look nothing is impossible. Examples ofJapan, Korea and Taiwan are oftenquoted as example for exclusive im-ported fuel dependent economy. Butthese countries have wide open coast-lines of appropriate drafts for setting upimport ports and terminals. Higher draftskeep investments for setting up infra-structure within affordable limits. But al-most the entire coastal areas ofBangladesh are very shallow. Setting upof coal port and LNG terminal at Payrain the South is a huge challenge. It hasnow become a question whether it willbe at all feasible. On the other hand, de-velopment of Matarbari port through ex-cavating a link canal is being done withhuge investment. These would makecost of imported fuel very expensive.The countries mentioned above also donot have own primary fuel which wehave. It is not clear to me why we arewalking reverse in such reality. Sustain-able development will definitely be im-peded if we continue delayingexploitation of our own fuel resources.

Bangladesh is believed to have about 76Tcf equivalent discovered coal re-sources. But it has not been possible toexploit this in a planned manner so far.What should be done?

I have already discussed it. I am onceagain reiterating that there is no otheroption but to explore own coal and set-ting up mine mouth power generationplants. Without wasting any time, wemust take decision of mining own coal.Initiative must also be launched for dis-covering additional coal resources.There is no other alternative but usingown coal for getting power at affordableprice.

What initiatives need to be taken inMujib Barsho for ensuring sustainablesupply of energy at affordable cost?

Look we have in front of us Banga-bandhu who left behind footprints of theenergy sector. His vision, ideology mustbe followed. His vision was the mostoptimum use of own fuel resources forindustrial development. He encouragedcreation of various enterprises for ex-ploring and exploiting own fuel. Istrongly believe if the government can

get back to his footprint and commencemining of coal and expedite petroleumexploration during this Mujib Barsho,Bangladesh by 2025 can start deceler-ating the rising trend of imported fuel

use.

It is my firm conviction that the govern-ment would pursue that policy from theMujib Barsho.

43March 1, 2020

Report

Dhaka and New Delhi will jointlyset up a 130-kilometre cross-bor-

der petroleum pipeline to import oilfrom the Indian state of Shiliguri.

To facilitate the work, Bangladesh ap-proved a Tk 3.06-billion project re-cently.

With Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inthe chair, the Executive Committee ofthe National Economic Council(ECNEC) endorsed the land acquisitionfor the project.

Eight other schemes at a combinedtotal of Tk 24.22 billion were also en-dorsed.

After the meeting, planning divisionsecretary Md Nurul Amin told themedia that the ECNEC okayed thefriendship pipeline project to acquireland and develop ancillary facilities.

Meghna Petroleum Limited underBangladesh Petroleum Corporationwill acquire necessary land to lay a125km pipeline inside Bangladesh byJune 2022.

The remaining 5.0km pipeline will be

set up by the Indian government fromNumaligarh Oil Refinery in Shiligurithrough the Indo-Bangla frontier.

The 130km 10-inch diameter pipelinewill transport oil from Numaligarh Re-finery to Parbatipur Depot in Dinajpurdistrict here, Mr Amin said.

The project includes acquisition of187.34 acres of land, 126.14 acres offorced land, 12 acres alongside eightacres of forced land acquisition totransport fuel to Syedpur Power Plant.

The authorities will lay six tanks hav-ing capacity of 6,761 tonnes of oil anda terminal at Parbatipur.

They will install the SCADA havingoptical fibre, install various types ofvalves, static and rotating equipment,procure transformers and power ca-bles, install pipeline and do testing andcommissioning work.

Since northern districts have a demandfor an estimated 0.58 million tonnes offuel oil, the pipeline will help to boostup the energy supply there.

ECNEC Approves Oil Pipeline Project

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