Gas from Bhola to be supplied to industries around Dhaka: Nasrul Hamid

Bhola's surplus gas will be supplied to the industries under Titas in the form of concentrated natural gas (CNG), says State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid.

Nasrul Hamid said the initiative was taken to make the best use of gas obtained from Bhola. Through this, he hoped that the gas crisis in the industries around Dhaka will be removed to a great extent.

He made the remark while attending a 10-year agreement signing ceremony between Intraco and Sundarban Gas Company Ltd at a hotel in the capital on Sunday. Under the agreement, Privately-owned Intraco will be getting the onus to supply gas obtained from Bhola.

Sundarban Gas Secretary Shah Alam Mollah and Intraco Managing Director Riyad Ali signed the agreement on behalf of their respective organisations.

At the event, Member of Parliament of Bhola-2 constituency Ali Azam demanded gas supply for household use in Bhola.

Responding to this, the state minister said, "We are taking electricity and gas from Bhola so the people of the district will also get gas."

Stressing the possibility of discovering more gas in the district, Prime Minister's Energy Advisor Dr Tawfiq E Elahi Chowdhury urged entrepreneurs to dig more wells while giving top priority to safe gas transportation.

Chairman of Petrobangla Janendra Nath Sarkar, Managing Director of Intraco Riyad Ali, Managing Director of Sundarban Gas Company Tofail Ahmed and others also spoke at the event under the chairmanship of Energy Secretary Dr Khairuzzaman Majumdar.

According to the increased rate effective from last February, the current price of gas per cubic meter in the industry is Tk30. Even the price of gas at CNG filling stations is Tk43 per cubic meter.

However, the price of Bhola CNG has been fixed at Tk47.60 per cubic meter.

On 10 May, the Energy Division issued a circular regarding the supply of Bhola gas in the form of CNG to industries under Titas gas. It mentioned the price of gas, margins of various companies, and conditions to be fulfilled by gas suppliers.

According to sources in the Energy Division, while a few companies have expressed interest, Intraco is being given the job of supplying Bhola gas in the form of CNG in the first phase.

In the first phase, 5 million cubic feet of gas will be supplied per day in the form of CNG. It will later be increased to 25 million cubic feet. Bhaluka-Gazipur energy crisis-affected factories will get priority in gas supply.

Reportedly, Intraco owes Titas Gas hundreds of crores for gas supply to several CNG stations. Recently, the company got the opportunity to meet these dues in 30 installments.

Gas prices

Sundarban Gas Company constituted a committee of nine members to look into the matter of transportation of gas from Bhola in the form of CNG. The committee submitted its report to Petrobangla on 31 October last year. According to the report, the daily gas demand is currently 86 mmcf including the power plant at Bhola. Bhola gas field has a daily production capacity of 120 mmcf. As a result, the surplus gas volume is currently 34 mmcf.

The report suggested a price of Tk51.12 per cubic meter. After reviewing the overall issue, the price per cubic meter has been finalised at Tk47.60.

The price of feed gas per cubic meter has been fixed at Tk17, which is Tk35 in the case of CNG stations. This Tk17 includes margin, transmission and distribution charges, gas development fund, energy security fund and VAT of various companies including Bapex, Petrobangla, Sundarban, RPGCL.

CNG stations get a margin of Tk8 per cubic meter of gas sold. However, Intraco is getting Tk30.60 to supply gas from Bhola. Petrobangla's explanation in this regard is that the supply company has to travel about 230-250km to bring gas from Bhola to Dhaka, which is why the margin is high.