Anisul Islam Noor :
The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Power, Energy and Mineral resources has suggested the government to speed up gas and oil exploration in order to ensure future energy security, as the country’s half of proven gas reserve has already been consumed and the remainder would be finished within next 15 years.
In a recent analysis on ‘Proven gas reserve, present situation and future plan’, the Parliamentary Committee said that the proven gas reserve of the country’s 26 fields is 27.12 Trillion Cubic
Feet (TCF) of which 13.63 TCF gas has already been exhausted and the rest to be finished by 2031.
The report also said, in last few years, the country could not take effective step to discover more gas fields, even after favourable judgment by the International Court on the sea boundary dispute with Myanmar and India.
In the Parliamentary Standing Committee’s analysis, it has been exhibited that drawing out of natural gas was 1744 mmcf daily in January 2009, and it is now 2740 mmcf indicating increasing of gas extraction by about 996 mmcf per day.
Energy expert and Professor of BUET M. Tamim said, plans undertaken in the recent years for developing gas sector failed totally.
“No new gas well has been discovered and that is why the government has no second option than extracting more gas from the existing gas fields for meeting growing demand in industries and residential quarters,” Professor Tamim said.
He suggested for effective plan for exploring oil and gas in the Bay of Bengal immediately, otherwise the country would be in great crisis after a decade.
Though the government has purchased new rig for increasing capacity of BAPEX, there is no impact even though five years have elapsed. Experts hold budget shortage and bureaucratic complexity responsible, sources said.
If the current rate of extraction remains unchanged, the reserve would last until 2031, said Nasrul Hamid, State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources.
Hamid told it in the Parliament during the latest session that it was not possible to supply gas according to the demand and its demand would continue to increase.
“If the reserves come down, it will not be possible to maintain the production at he present rate,” Hamid said in a scripted reply.
With time, the production capacity of the existing gas fields will continue to reduce with the reduction of gas pressure, he added.
“Under the circumstances, it will not be possible to use this gas for more than 16 years,” the minister observed.
President of Parliamentary Standing Committee of the Ministry Tajul Islam MP said, the committee has recommended for immediate step to increase logistic support of BAPEX for exploring oil and gas in onshore and offshore blocks.
He also suggested forming a monitoring committee for observing oil and gas exploration and extraction in onshore and offshore areas.
Titas is the country’s oldest gas field discovered in 1962. Its proven and highest reserve was 6367 BCF. of which 4046 BCF had already been extracted. Second highest gas reserve 5754 BCF is found in Bibiyana, of which 3380 BCF has already been retracted. After then, Koilastila gas field remained reserve with 2083BCF, Rashidpur field have remained with 1870BCF gas, Bakhrabad and Chhatak with 400BCF gas.
