In case of any supply crisis due to reserve depletion, Bangladesh’s gas-based industrial units will suffer a big setback. That is why serious endeavours to explore new gas fields can secure sufficient energy supply for smooth running of industrial production necessitated for national economic growth and development, say economists and natural gas exploration experts.
The speedy exploration of newer gas fields can help Bangladesh to march ahead, they opined, saying, the country has huge opportunities to explore gas in offshore areas, as countries like Myanmar and India have already succeeded in exploring new gas fields in offshore areas. Our industries including textile and readymade garment factories, power plants and fertiliser factories and some other industrial units mostly use natural gas to run their production. Dependency on imported gas will be a very complicated and expensive process, if we are not able to explore any source of natural gas immediately.
According to former lead economist of the World Bank Dhaka office Dr. Zahid Hussain, “Without any delay and dependent on existing gas exploration authority, the government should engage with the companies, who have experience, financial ability, management capacity and technologies, to find out new gas fields across the country, especially in offshore area.” In terms of the 2009 estimates by the UK-based RPS Energy Limited and lately discovered fields’ forecast, the recoverable proved and probable reserves in the 27 commercial gas fields in the country were 29.54 trillion cubic feet. Petrobangla’s data show that around 20 trillion cubic feet of the total reserves were extracted by 2021, which means the country will be able to produce natural gas for only the next 10 years as the existing commercial gas fields produce around 900 billion cubic feet of gas every year.
If new gas fields are not discovered immediately, the country will face an economic disruption ahead as our industrial infrastructure is built on gas. So, the supply crisis due to reserve depletion might create a big disruption to the economy. The relevant authorities have to take a pragmatic action plan marked by greater mission and vision to explore newer gas fields in line with the call of the experts in the best interest of the country’s steady economic growth.
