Intraco Refueling eyes revenue boost from Bhola gas transport

Intraco Refueling Station expects a significant boost in its revenue and profit from transporting surplus gas in compressed form from Bhola gas fields to industries in Dhaka and Gazipur.

To this end, the firm listed on the stock market entered into a 10-year deal with Sundarban Gas Company – a state-owned gas distributor in Khulna divisional city and Bhola – on 21 May.

"For example, if the turnover of the company is Tk100, it will triple to Tk300, and the profit margin will also increase considerably," said GM Salahuddin, the company secretary of Intraco Refueling Station.

"The company already owns land in Bhola, and initially, some machinery has been installed there to transport gas," GM Salahuddin told The Business Standard, adding the shipping of gas will begin within the next two to three months.

He said initially it will be possible to bring 5 million cubic feet of gas per day (mmcfd). In the next one year, gas imports will increase to 20 mmcfd.

Industries will have to pay Tk47.60 for a unit of gas – cubic metre – though the current rate of industrial gas is Tk30 per unit.

From the price, the Sundarban Gas Company will get Tk17.10 and Intraco Refueling will get the rest of the amount for transporting, compressing, and other costs.

Amid an outcry from different energy-starved industries, Prime Minister's Energy Adviser Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury floated the idea of fetching 80 mmcfd of gas in October last year.

Intraco, which posted a revenue of Tk108 crore and a net profit after tax of Tk10.34 crore in the fiscal 2021-22, was picked for the project under the special act for the power and energy sector – Quick Enhancement of Electricity and Energy Supply (Special Provisions) Act 2010.

Apart from its role of merely conversion and carrier, under the new contract, the firm will be given the power to select consumers from the Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Company's distribution areas in Dhaka and Gazipur for gas supply and collect bills, according to a document obtained by TBS.

A source at Titas Gas said there are 18 industrial consumers in Gazipur and Bhaluka with a 10-mmcfd gas deficit.

Meanwhile, the three Bhola gas fields have around 200 mmcfd of production capacity, while demand hovers between 80 mmcf and 85 mmcf.

Therefore, around 120 mmcf of surplus capacity remains unused in the nine wells of the Shahbazpur, Bhola, and Ilisha gas fields.