UNB, Dhaka :
A move is underway to set up a 100,000 metric tons (mt) capacity liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) bottling plant under the public private partnership (PPP) in Chittagong area.
According to official sources, the Energy Division has already moved a proposal of the state-owned Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) to obtain a policy approval of the Cabinet Economic Affairs Committee.
Sources said, that presently, 100,000 mt of LGP in bottles are distributed and marketed across the country through different public and private companies. Of which, 20,000 mt is produced from the condensates of different gas fields and crude oil from Eastern Refinery Limited in Chittagong. The remaining 80,000 mt LPG is imported from abroad.
The public sector’s 20,000 mt are bottled in two plants, one owned by Rupantarito Prakritik Gas Company Ltd (RPGCL), a subsidiary company of Petrobangla, and another by LP Gas Limited, a BPC subsidiary.
The remaining 80,000 mt of LPG is imported and bottled by a number of private companies including Bashundhara, Premier, Summit, Total, and Cleenheat Ltd.
The BPC claims that there is a potential market of 500,000 mt of LPG gas across the country although energy experts believe the market demand is around 300,000 mt LPG. “The estimation of 500,000 LPG is an exaggeration of the demand,” said energy expert and BUET professor of Petroleum Engineering Department Dr. M Tamim.
