LNG, coal decisions left to the next government
The finance minister yesterday gave himself a pat on the back for success in cutting power load shedding with a forecast that electricity generation will double in the next two years due to government initiatives.
He, however, left to the next government two major issues — domestic coal development and import of liquefied natural gas (LNG) — to end the ongoing gas crisis.
The minister mentioned that so far the government has supplied 3,845 megawatts of additional electricity, which is almost double what the country used to have four years back.
What he did not say is that almost half this new power is generated by short-term costly oil-fired rental power plants, which are due to be phased out from this year until 2015. These rental projects are simply emergency backups for basic power plants that would use cheaper gas and coal as fuels. Many of these plants are under implementation but their progress does not assure that they would come into operation in the next two years following the plans.
To stick to the energy sector plans that the government rolled out in the last four years, both LNG import and local coalfield development are vital side by side with gas sector development. Otherwise, the picture of energy security being portrayed by the government will prove to be just a mirage with some short-term achievements.
The minister repeatedly said the government has added 680 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) gas in the last four years. Elsewhere in his budget speech, he mentioned addition of 510 mmcfd gas. The actual figure would be 495 mmcfd.
A road map on power and energy presented in his speech, however, admits that the progress in gas sector was not proportionate to the achievements in the power sector.
Indeed so. For the last four years, the level of gas crisis continues to hover around 500 mmcfd, which is roughly one fourth of the country’s consumption. This has resulted in reliance on oil-based power generation and under-performance of gas-based power and industrial units, a slowdown in industrial expansion and even poor domestic burner performance.
This is where the LNG imports from the Middle East would have played a role. The Petrobangla that spearheaded a tender to set up an LNG terminal to facilitate import of the liquid gas equivalent to 500 mmcfd, had targeted the import by December 2012. But due to inept handling of the tender, the scheme failed.
The minister now says that he expected this scheme would be completed in the next one and half year.
He talked about whether the country would utilise open pit method of coal extraction for Barapukuria and Fulbari coalmines to ensure large-scale production. He explained the government’s hesitation in this regard as such method would displace a lot of people and would have an impact on the environment.
Yet, this issue needs to be resolved, as the government has opted for several large power plants that would use imported coal. The dependence on import would diminish if the nation can extract coal from its own mines. With this in mind, the government has prepared a coal policy, which is being left for a decision by the next government.
Source: The Daily Star
