DRAFT GAS SECTOR MASTER PLAN 26pc demand unmet, more crisis ahead

Gas crisis in the country would be acute in near future with at least 26 per cent of the demand remaining unmet now, according to a draft report on Gas Sector Master Plan 2017 submitted on Monday.
There are hardly options to increase the gas supply to meet the growing demands amid fast depleting domestic reserves leading to a sharp fall daily gas supply by 1,000 million cubic feet per day by 2026 from the current supply of 2,752 MMcf against the demand for 3,732 MMcf, according to the report.
The existing gas reserve of about 12 trillion cubic feet would be completely exhausted by 2038, said the report prepared by Copenhagen-based research firm Ramboll in association with Geological Survey of Denmark and EQMS Consulting Limited.
Ramboll officially handed over the report to Petrobangla and power cell on Monday and presented a summary before the high officials in the energy sector in presence of state minister for power, energy and mineral resources Nasrul Hamid.
The master plan was drafted considering the Power System Master Plan 2016, said Nasrul adding that the master plan would be finalised after receiving recommendations and observations from Petrobangla and other organisations involved in oil-gas exploration and supply and power generation.
The draft master plan said that rigorous exploration activities in onshore as well as offshore areas of the country could raise daily gas supply by 1,400 MMcf from about 5 Tcf new reserves. 
The oil-gas exploration activities would take three years in four major onshore areas, five years in two shallow sea areas and eight years in one deep sea area.
Replacement of piped natural gas for household cooking by Liquefied Petroleum Gas could play a supporting role while import of gas in liquid form could be a short-term measure to manage the demand, the draft report said.
By 2020, the import of Liquefied Natural Gas would raise the average gas prices seven times to $7 per thousand cubic feet from current price of $0.9 without considering 122 per cent duties and taxes.
The price would be $11 per thousand cubic feet if LNG is considered as a major source of natural gas supplies.
Import of natural gas from the neighbouring Myanmar and India through pipelines could be a medium-term measure while the import from Turkmenistan and Iran could be the long-term solution, said the report.
The government already took a crash programme of drilling 50 exploration wells by 2021 in the land to enhance gas supplies, said officials.
Energy expert Badrul Imam, also Dhaka University geology professor, told New Age that the plan for drilling 50 exploration wells in four to five years involved high risk of failure for hurriedly identifying drilling locations.
He suggested making a feasible plan for oil-gas exploration. 
Badrul also said that large-scale LNG import would create a huge pressure on the country’s economy due to its high price.
There were hardly possibilities to import gas from Myanmar and India, he said, adding that the only potential lies in import of gas from Turkmenistan and Iran through trans-border pipelines.
Badrul was also hopeful of discovering big gas reserves in the offshore areas bordering with Mynamar. 

News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net