Bapex MDs don’t work while in chair: Nasrul Hamid

The managing directors (MDs) of the Bangladesh Petroleum Exploration and Production Company Limited (Bapex) do not work while in charge but come up with different projects after they retire, said State Minister for Power and Energy Nasrul Hamid.

"MDs do not make a sound when they are in the chair but become tiger cubs after retirement," he said.

"Generally, people lose their memory when they get aged and retire, but here, Bapex MDs' brains sharpen after retirement," he added.

Nasrul Hamid made the remarks, at a webinar, disappointed over the failure of former Bapex officials to shape the organisation as one of international standard.

The virtual seminar styled "Exploration and Management Challenges for Bapex" was organised by Energy and Power magazine, a fortnightly publication, on Saturday.

He said the state-owned organisation itself proposed to drill 108 wells in five years but did not do that due to its failure to set locations.

He asked, "The government wants Bapex to do the gas exploration work in the gas fields. If it fails, what is the alternative?"

In response to a question on why the gas exploration work in Bhola has been awarded to a third party company like Gazprom, Nasrul said the Russians cannot deal directly, so they work through another company.

Bapex's former MD Mortuza Ahmed Farooq presented the keynote paper at the seminar moderated by the magazine's Editor Mollah Amzad Hossain.

Among others, former MD Moktadir Ali as well as energy experts Professor M Tamim, Dr Badrul Imam and Salek Sufi spoke at the seminar.