Gas prices to go up again [ Tritiyo Matra News ]

Gas prices to go up again

Local February 20, 2018

Gas prices are set to increase at least twice this year with effect from April and October as 28.32 million cubic metre of pricy natural gas would be added to the daily national supply from imported Liquefied Natural Gas in two phases.
Earlier, the Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission raised the gas prices by 22.7 per cent on an average in two phases –– from March 1 and June 1 in 2017, said officials.
Gas transmission and distribution utilities would submit proposals to the commission soon so that the commission could hold public hearing to adjust the import costs from April as the first phase of liquefied gas imports would begin from April 25, they said.
The decisions were made at a meeting on Monday with commission chairman Monowar Islam in chair. Energy division secretary Nazimuddin Chowdhury and Petrobangla chairman Abul Mansur Md Faizullah attended the meeting, the officials said.
‘They came to discuss about the potential impact of LNG import on the supply cost,’ Monowar told New Age.
Asked how the prices of blended gas would be determined, he said that the gas
distribution utilities would need to submit proposals to the commission.
He said that the prices might require frequent adjustments with the change in liquefied gas prices on the international market.
In September 2017, Petrobangla outlined a proposal for raising gas prices by more than 60 per cent on an average for different consumers considering that the imported LNG would add 28.32 mmcmd gas to 76.18 mmcmd indigenous gas and the import cost would be equivalent to Tk 16 per cubic metre.
Petrobangla also considered the re-gasification charge at Tk 1.13 per cubic metre, said officials, adding that the LNG price went up on the international market and it varied everyday which would affect the domestic market.
On its proposal, Petrobangla considered a hike by 92 per cent for industrial boilers, up from Tk 7.76 per cubic metre or unit to Tk 14.90, and that for captive power plants in industries by 55.72 per cent, up from Tk 9.62 per unit to Tk 14.92, said the officials.
Petrobangla proposed gas price hikes for domestic burners by 23 per cent, up from Tk 9.10 per unit to Tk 11.20, for CNG-driven vehicles by 50 per cent, up from Tk 40 per unit to Tk 60, for fertiliser factories by 75.28 per cent, up from Tk 2.71 per unit to Tk 4.75, for power grid tied power stations by 57.91 per cent, up from Tk 3.16 per unit to Tk 4.99, for commercial uses by 105.4 per cent, up from Tk 17.04 per unit to Tk 35, and for tea estates by 63 per cent, up from Tk 7.42 per unit to Tk 12.10.
In the wake of no significant success in oil and gas explorations, the government planned to increase gas supplies by 14.16 mmcmd from April and 14.16 mmcmd from October with imported liquefied gas.
US company Excelerate Energy and local firm Summit are expected to prepare two floating terminals, storages and re-gasification units near Moheshkhali Island to facilitate the government’s LNG imports.
On September 25, 2017, Petrobangla signed a 15-year contract with Qatar’s state-run RasGas Company Limited to import LNG.
Under the contract, RasGas would supply 1.8 million tonnes of liquefied gas a year for the first five years and 2.5 million tonnes for the next 10 years.
Negotiations with four other state-run companies, including that of Indonesia, are underway to import and transport liquefied gas to meet growing demand for natural gas, said the officials.
Gas supplies from indigenous fields has already started declining from its peak 77.88 mmcmd and now stands at 76.18 mmcmd against a demand for more than 105 mmcmd.