🇧🇩 Energy Security of Bangladesh (3 Viewers)

[Saif]

Gas crisis hits consumers hard

A two-week-long gas crisis has been affecting homes, factories, and vehicles that run on compressed natural gas, thanks to a dip in supply following the shutdown of an LNG regasification terminal in Cox’s Bazar on May 29.

www.thedailystar.net

Gas crisis hits consumers hard

A two-week-long gas crisis has been affecting homes, factories, and vehicles that run on compressed natural gas, thanks to a dip in supply following the shutdown of an LNG regasification terminal in Cox's Bazar on May 29.

People in many areas in the capital are finding it difficult to cook at home. Some factories have closed as they could not operate due to low gas pressure. Almost all city CNG filling stations had long queues of vehicles.

Power supply to rural areas worsened as many plants use gas to generate electricity.

The government had planned to produce 17,800 megawatts of power a day during this summer, but it could generate the highest only on April 30-- 16,477MW.

The average production was between 13,000MW and 15,000MW in April-May, according to data of Bangladesh Power Development Board.

Officials attributed this production dearth to a shortage of fuel, which stems from the dollar crunch.

Bangladesh Rural Electrification Board (REB), responsible for supplying electricity to rural areas, had to conduct up to 1,100MW of load shedding a day since May 27. The districts of Mymensingh, Tangail, Dhaka, Narayanganj, Narshingdi, and Noakhali experienced the highest power cuts, according to REB.

During Cyclone Remal on May 27, the LNG regasification unit in Moheshkhali of Cox's Bazar was damaged. The unit, operated by Summit Group, was taken to a dry dock abroad last week for repairs, said Summit in a statement on June 5.

The LNG terminal is expected to be brought back in about three weeks, added the statement.

The country gets LNG from two floating storage regasification units (FSRU) having a total capacity to process 1,100 million cubic feet of gas a day (mmcfd). The incident reduced the supply to 600 mmcfd.

Petrobangla can currently supply around 2,600 mmcfd against a demand of 3,800 mmcfd.

The country's local gas production has dropped to 2,039 mmcfd from the yearly average of 2,448 mmcfd in 2016, according to data from January.

The Summit's FSRU only resumed operations in mid-April after undergoing maintenance in Singapore for two and a half months. The gas supply situation in the country had been the same back then and people had to endure gas shortage.

Sabakat Sabri, a college student from the capital's East Shewrapara, said they have been facing an acute gas crisis for about a week.

"We have been living here for 15 years, but we never experienced such a bad gas supply situation," he told The Daily Star.

Sabri said they hardly have gas in the morning. "None of my family members can have breakfast at home before heading out to work. The gas pressure does not improve even around noon. That's why we have lunch late."

He said they started using an electric stove on Sunday.

To read the rest of the news, please click on the link above.​

 

[Saif]

To overcome gas crisis, upgrade field management

Bangladesh is going through the worst gas supply shortfall in recent history

www.thedailystar.net

To overcome gas crisis, upgrade field management
Bangladesh needs to catch up with modern technology to optimise domestic gas production.

Bangladesh needs to catch up with modern technology to optimise domestic gas production. VISUAL: REHNUMA PROSHOON

The depleting reserves of most major gas fields, decline in cumulative gas production, and disruption in the expected LNG supply mean that Bangladesh is going through the worst gas supply shortfall in recent history. This is not unexpected by any means, because energy experts, for a long time, have been warning about a major gas crisis coming due to the widening gap between the supply and demand of gas in the country.

On the supply side, local gas production has declined from a peak annual rate of 973 billion cubic feet (Bcf) in FY2016 to 840 Bcf in FY2022, according to Petrobangla. The increasing industrialisation and urbanisation over the last decades, on the other hand, led to a fast uptick in gas demand. The attempt to remove the gap by supplementing the gas supply through liquefied natural gas (LNG) import did not bear the expected result, because Bangladesh cannot import enough LNG to meet its requirement for two reasons. First, the price of LNG is very high and the country currently has a dollar crisis, which would not allow the funds readily available to pay for the import bill. Second, the country has yet to build a robust LNG import infrastructure.

Waning reserves, falling production

In the 1960s, the Shell Oil Company helped place Bangladesh (then East Pakistan) on the world map for gas reserves by discovering several world-class multi-Tcf (trillion cubic feet) gas fields, including Titas, Habiganj, Bakhrabad, Kailashtila and Rashidpur. After independence, new gas fields were discovered on a regular basis, but that did not significantly change the reserve situation, because most of the newly discovered gas fields were relatively smaller in size. In 1997, Bibiyana, yet another multi-Tcf gas field, was discovered by a major international oil company (IOC).

Among the very large gas fields, Titas' initial gas reserve was estimated to be 6.36 Tcf in 2010. At the beginning of 2023, the Titas gas reserve declined to 1.14 Tcf, per Petrobangla data. Similarly, Bakhrabad's initial reserve was estimated to be 1.23 Tcf, which has been reduced to only 0.35 Tcf. Habiganj, another major gas field, has been depleted from the initial reserve of 2.63 Tcf to 0.097 Tcf. The reserve in Bibiyana, the gas field with the highest production volume in Bangladesh, has declined from the initial 5.75 Tcf to 0.33 Tcf at present. The same trend is visible in some other large gas fields. The Sangu, the only active offshore gas field in the country, has been completely depleted and abandoned.

From the above, it is clear that most of the currently operational gas fields are past their youthful strength and cannot be relied upon for meeting our gas needs in the future. To attain future gas security, Bangladesh has to enter a robust exploration programme to find yet-to-find new reserves of gas.

At present, Bangladesh reels under a severe gas supply shortfall. About 78 percent of the gas supply is met through production from local gas fields. The remaining 22 percent is met with imported LNG. While domestic gas production has been on the decline for several years now, the LNG supply suffers from international price hikes and poor LNG infrastructure. The production facilities in local gas fields do exhibit various weaknesses, including less-than-optimum production volume per well compared to IOC wells. Energy experts opine that there is a scope for enhancing the rate of production in individual wells in the national gas fields.

To read the rest of the news, please click on the link above.​

 

[Saif]

Deal-making gets nod

Bangladesh expects to begin soon importing 40 megawatts of hydroelectricity from Nepal after signing a tripartite deal with India to use its transmission line as a cabinet body Tuesday gave the go-ahead. The Cabinet Committee on Government Purchase (CCGP) gave the approval for the buy of electricit

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

40mw hydropower from Nepal
Deal-making gets nod
Published :
Jun 12, 2024 01:02
Updated :
Jun 12, 2024 01:02

Bangladesh expects to begin soon importing 40 megawatts of hydroelectricity from Nepal after signing a tripartite deal with India to use its transmission line as a cabinet body Tuesday gave the go-ahead.

The Cabinet Committee on Government Purchase (CCGP) gave the approval for the buy of electricity from Nepal that costs Tk 8.17 per unit, alongside endorsing several other purchases at dollar-denominated prices.

As approved, the import of the electricity during a period of five years will cost Tk 6.5 billion.

Finance Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali chaired the meeting held at the cabinet division.

Briefing reporters after the meeting was over, cabinet division secretary (Coordination and Reform) Mahmudul Hossain Khan said the committee approved a proposal of the Power Division to import the electricity under direct-purchase method.

"As the proposal got approval," he said, "Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) will now sign a tripartite deal with Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) and NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam Limited (NVVN)."

However, replying to a query, he said date for signing the deal was yet to be fixed.

Mr Khan said the Prime Minister may visit Nepal soon and the power deal may be signed then.

Earlier in December last year, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved in principle the import of 40MW electricity from Nepal. Thereafter, the BPDB floated an international tender and Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) and NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam Limited (NVVN) submitted proposals in this regard.

The government imports electricity from India, too, and buys from private power producers to cater domestic demand. Power-purchase deals with them under a special law involve capacity payment.

In Tuesday's meeting, the CCGP also approved 14 other proposals that include import of fertilisers, lentils and soybean oils.

Under one purchase approved, Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation (BCIC) will import 30,000 tonnes of urea fertiliser from Qatar Chemical and Petrochemical Marketing and Distribution Company (Muntajat) with each tonne costing US$311.67.

Also, BCIC has been the all-clear to import 30,000 tonnes of urea fertiliser from Karnaphuli Fertiliser Company Limited (KAFCO) by spending $294.63 per tonne.

Mr Khan said the committee also approved a proposal regarding the procurement of 25,000 tonnes of TSP fertiliser by Bangladesh Agricultural Development Corporation (BADC) from Tunisia. Each tonne will cost $395.25 in this import.

The agricultural corporation has also been authorised to import 40,000 tonnes of MOP fertiliser from Canadian Commercial Corporation-each tonne costing $275.50.

Moreover, it got the go-ahead to import 40,000 tonnes of DAP fertiliser from OCP Morocco at a cost of $478 per tonne.

The Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) has been given approval for buying 20,000 tonnes of lentils from Nabil Naba Food Products Limited through open-tender method where each kilogram will cost Tk 102.50.

Under yet another purchase approval, the TCB will buy 22 million litres of soybean oil from Super Oil Refinery Limited-per litre costing Tk 150.90--to sell to needy people.​

 

[Saif]

I am against any deal with India concerning energy import because this will give them an opportunity to torpedo our energy security. After seeing the fate of water sharing of common rivers I am dead against making Bangladesh depended on India for energy import.

India looks to export RLNG to BD via pipeline

Two Indian energy companies are eyeing export of re-gasified liquefied natural gas (RLNG) to Bangladesh within next few years after laying two separate pipelines totalling 265 kilometres. After importing the gas from international suppliers, Indian state-run GAIL and private company H-Energy wil

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

India looks to export RLNG to BD via pipeline
M AZIZUR RAHMAN
Published :
Jun 12, 2024 00:57
Updated :
Jun 12, 2024 00:57

Two Indian energy companies are eyeing export of re-gasified liquefied natural gas (RLNG) to Bangladesh within next few years after laying two separate pipelines totalling 265 kilometres.

After importing the gas from international suppliers, Indian state-run GAIL and private company H-Energy will supply RLNG to separate Bangladeshi entities.

India's H-Energy is set to sign a deal with Bangladesh's state-owned oil, gas and mineral corporation Petrobangla, while GAIL is finalising a re-gasified LNG sales agreement with private Bangladeshi firm Dipon Gas Company.

Market analysts attribute this move by the Indian companies to sluggish domestic LNG consumption in India over the past several years.


Neighbouring India imported around 23.3 million tonnes (mt) of LNG during the fiscal year of 2023-2024 (April-March), which is a 7.17 per cent decrease compared to the country's peak LNG import volume of 25.1 mt in FY 2020-21, according to India's Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC).

India's GAIL and H-Energy will primarily export a combined total of around 1.6-2.0 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) of re-gasified LNG, which could be expanded through mutual negotiations.

H-Energy, a subsidiary of the Hiranandani Group, intends to supply half of the total, or 0.8-1.0 MTPA, while GAIL will handle the remaining half of 0.8-1.0 MTPA.

The pipelines, prices

H-Energy plans to supply the gas from Digha in West Bengal to Khulna in Bangladesh. This will require constructing a 155 km cross-border pipeline stretching from Kanai Chatta in East Medinipur district to Shrirampur in Khulna.

The pipeline will be divided, with 90 km laid within India and 65 km within Bangladesh.

H-Energy will cover the construction costs, while Petrobangla will be responsible for the wheeling charges.

H-Energy's selling price will be linked to Brent Crude, ensuring flexibility to fluctuate with international market movements.

GAIL will supply the gas to Jashore district in southwestern Bangladesh. The gas will be delivered through a 110 km cross-border pipeline constructed from the Benapole border.

The pipeline will be divided, with 65 km laid within India and 45 km within Bangladesh.

GAIL will build the Indian segment of the pipeline, while Bangladesh's Dipon Gas will be responsible for constructing the Bangladeshi stretch.

Dipon Gas and GAIL have not yet finalised the benchmark for setting RLNG prices.

"We are now at the final stage of inking RLNG import deals with India's H-Energy," Petrobangla Chairman Zanendra Nath Sarker told The Financial Express recently.

"All relevant issues, including payment methods, pipeline management and pricing, have already been discussed," he added.

According to the Petrobangla chairman, H-Energy will be able to deliver re-gasified LNG to Bangladesh within two years of finalising the deals. This timeframe encompasses pipeline construction and the signing of purchase and sales agreements.

"We expect to receive RLNG from H-Energy by 2027," said a senior Petrobangla official involved in the negotiations.

To read the rest of the news, please click on the link above.​

 

[Saif]

Acute gas crisis takes the lid off LNG vulnerabilities

It’s another wake-up call for the energy sector

www.thedailystar.net

Acute gas crisis takes the lid off LNG vulnerabilities
It's another wake-up call for the energy sector

VISUAL: STAR

We are worried about the acute gas crisis that has followed the shutdown of an LNG regasification terminal in Cox's Bazar's Moheshkhali after being damaged by Cyclone Remal. According to a report by this daily, the crisis has plagued many households, factories, and vehicles running on compressed natural gas (CNG). For many residents in Dhaka and elsewhere, cooking has become a daily struggle. The situation is no better for the industrial sector, where factory closures and operational disruptions have resulted in significant economic losses and job insecurity for thousands of workers. Meanwhile, CNG filling stations have been overwhelmed with long queues of cars and auto-rickshaws. The power supply in rural areas has worsened as well.

Reportedly, the two-week-long crisis will continue for some more time as the damaged LNG unit—which reduced our LNG supply by almost half, and was taken to a dry dock abroad for repairs—is not expected to be back for another two weeks. That means more outages, more disruptions, and more sufferings. The Moheshkhali unit is one of the two floating storage and regasification units (FSRUs) in Bangladesh that convert LNG, or liquefied natural gas, back to gas before supplying it to the national grid. While the present crisis has again brought into focus the country's poor LNG import/supply infrastructure—it was only recently that we commented on the risk of surplus LNG regasification capacity as well as gas compressor stations lying idle amid insufficient supply—it also exposed deeper systemic issues surrounding our energy policy.

At the heart of it is the over-reliance on imported LNG amid dwindling local gas reserves. As experts have repeatedly said, a short-term, small-scale dependence on LNG import is reasonable, but tying it with our long-term energy future is not sustainable. Yet this is what the government has been doing, and doing rather poorly as it cannot pay for the costly import thanks to the dollar crisis. What we need to focus and indeed invest more on is diversifying our energy sources so as not to be so vulnerable to economic and natural shocks like Cyclone Remal. That, right now, should start with exploring local gas, including the 48 gas wells that the government flagged for exploration in three years. We should also invest more on renewable energy sources which haven't yet got the traction they deserve.

So, while we call on the government to do everything necessary to address the present gas crisis, we should also keep an eye on the future. Exploring and extracting local gas must be a priority going forward, and the national budget must reflect that priority before it is passed. The government should also work on our vulnerable energy supply/distribution infrastructure, which is seldom discussed despite the sufferings it has caused in recent years.​

 

[Saif]

Using solar panels on 10pc of waterbodies, rooftops can meet country’s power demand: study

If the unallocated khas lands in Dhaka division can be used to produce solar power, 26 percent of the capital's electricity demand can be met, according to a new study revealed today

www.thedailystar.net

Using solar panels on 10pc of waterbodies, rooftops can meet country's power demand: study

File photo

If the unallocated khas lands in Dhaka division can be used to produce solar power, 26 percent of the capital's electricity demand can be met, according to a new study revealed today.

Besides, using only 10 percent of waterbodies for floating solar plants and 10 percent of rooftops for solar panels can meet the entire country's demand, the study said, jointly conducted by Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association (BELA) and Coastal Livelihood and Environmental Action Network (CLEAN).
The study was jointly conducted by Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association (Bela) and Coastal Livelihood and Environmental Action Network (CLEAN).

The organisations presented the study findings in a seminar at the capital's YWCA auditorium today, titled "Solar Energy Potential of Bangladesh and Reality of Land Availability".

Speakers at the seminar said Bangladesh is committed to achieving the target of 100 percent renewable energy by 2050, but the current number is only three percent.

The study said Dhaka division's unallocated khas lands are around 3,388 acres and the electricity demand is 5,276 MW.

"It is possible to generate 1,367 megawatts of solar electricity by using those lands. Besides, floating solar plants across 10 percent of Dhaka's 1,48,235-acre waterbody can produce 5,985MW of electricity," the report said.

Then, if 10 percent of rooftops in Dhaka are used for solar panels, it can produce 10,779MW of electricity, it added.

Hasan Mehedi, CEO of CLEAN, said there should be a change at the policymaking level. There are also opportunity for setting up wind power plants in the country, he added.​

 

[Saif]

https://thefinancialexpress.com.bd/trade/china-bangladesh-launch-joint-venture-for-100mw-solar-power-plant

China, Bangladesh launch joint venture for 100MW solar power plant
Published :
Jun 13, 2024 20:17
Updated :
Jun 13, 2024 20:17

A new 100 megawatt (MW) solar power plant will be built at Madarganj of Jamalpur district by December 2025 with an investment of US$170 million.

A joint venture (JV) agreement between China's CREC International Renewable Energy Company and Bangladesh's state-owned B-R Powergen Limited (BRPL) was inked at Biduyt Bhaban in the city Thursday to build the power plant.

Chinese company will have 70 per cent stake in the JV, while the state-owned BRPL, jointly owned by Bangladesh Power Development Board and the Bangladesh Rural Electrification Board (REB), will have 30 per cent stake in the JV.

Power Division senior secretary under the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources (MPEMR) Md Habibur Rahman was the chief guest at the event.

Speaking on the occasion Mr Rahman hoped that the country will be able to generate around 1,200 MW of electricity from renewable energy by 2030.

The government has been working to generate 40 per cent of the country's overall electricity generation from clean energy by 2040, he added.

He urged the sponsor company to build the power plant in time.

Some 241 families will be rehabilitated under the project where a primary school, health centre, mosque, market, pond and graveyard will also be built.

Separately, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) officially launched the Infrastructure Development Company Limited (IDCOL) financed Rooftop Solar Project (BRSP) in its campus Thursday.

The official ceremony declaring the project's commercial operation date (COD) was held at BUET's auditorium.

The 3.27 megawatt-peak (MWp) BRSP is a collaborative effort of BUET and GPPS Consortium Ltd.

Funded by IDCOL, the project is expected to generate substantial cost savings for BUET, reducing their electricity bills by an estimated Tk 600 million over the next 30 years.

Chaired by vice chancellor of BUET professor Dr Satya Prashad Majumder, executive director & CEO of IDCOL, Alamgir Morshed, deputy CEO & CFO of IDCOL S. M. Monirul Islam, managing director of the PEGEL a major shareholder of GPPS Consortium Ltd Asma Jahan Hoque and pro-VC of BUET Dr Abdul Zabbar Khan were the special guests at the funcdtion.

Addressing on the occasion, the IDCOL top brass lauded the BRSP as a crucial step forward for renewable energy in Bangladesh's education sector.

He emphasized the project's alignment with the government's commitment to clean energy and reducing dependence on fossil fuels.

Professor Majumder expressed his gratitude to IDCOL for their financial support, which played a key role in bringing this ambitious project to life. He also commended GPPS Consortium for their successful implementation despite challenges.​