Staff Reporter :BAPEX achieved remarkable successes in gas exploration in last six years notwithstanding skilled manpower shortage. Many of its experienced and skilled hands have joined foreign exploration companies working in Bangladesh. Those companies give lucrative benefits.Some 150 skilled people left the company in the last one decade since their salaries were not equal to what a foreign company pays. The vacant positions still remain unfulfilled.Engineers working with the exploration sector have no special salary structure. BAPEX’s payment is poor compared with the international companies who are paying 25 to 40 times more. So experts in the field do not feel any interest to work with the state-ownedEngineers working with the exploration sector have no special salary structure. BAPEX’s payment is poor compared to the international companies who are paying 25 to 40 times more. So experts in the field do not feel any interest to work with the state-owned company. To attract experts the government should make lucrative salary structure, said a BAPEX engineer.About 80 percent of exploration activities are being done by International Oil Companies (IOC), but experts say the government should give importance to the state-owned BAPEX. Prof Anu Muhammad, a noted economist said, the government should strengthen public companies for sustainable development since foreign companies think eye profit only. Prof Anu raises some questions. Why cannot the government train BAPEX’s manpower to supervise and manage all drilling activities? Why does it make risky investments? Leading IOCs like Shell and Chevron do not drill themselves. They employ sub-contractors to operate the drilling activities. The government has to share public money with the foreign companies due to the weakness of BAPEX. If it is made strong technically with skilled-man power it could operate on-shore and shallow block exploration at sea. The IOC thus exploit us, he said. Bangladeshi companies exhibited a higher success rate in exploration compared with the IOC’s. BAPEX’s cost of discovery is relatively lower, officials claimed.In the last six years from 2009, procurement of three new Modern Drilling Rigs made BAPEX fully equipped to implement exploration work utilizing the support of total six available rigs. But these facilities could not be properly utilized for lack of adequate and skilled manpower.There is an allegation that some government officials do not want to strengthen BAPEX, they influence the government to allocate gas blocks to the IOC companies in exchange of bribe. In January 2014, BAPEX decided to recruit 75 officers of different categories for the existing vacant positions in the post of Assistant Managers and Assistant Officers. BAPEX officials told earlier that the process takes too much time from advertisement to recruitment and final selection.So far BAPEX has discovered eight gas fields since November, 2000. It is operating as an Exploration and Production Company and owns the Shahbazpur, Saldanadi, Fenchuganj, Kamta, Srikail, Semutang, Begumganj and Feni gas fields, said BAPEX sources. During the fiscal year 2013-14, BAPEX produced a total of 1,135.851 mmcm of gas.
