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BANGLADESH is considered a country of potential and one of the reasons for the same is its possession of a vital energy source such as natural gas. Its present discovered gas reserves are not very high. But experts -- local and foreign -- are unanimous in their conclusion that the unexplored reserves -- when finally located and extracted -- could put Bangladesh notably in the map as a major producer of this form of energy in the future. However, Bangladesh's position as regards the use of gas resources has rather been of concern. Only recently its production and supply of gas seemed to be less than the demand. This situation is likely to change fairly soon and the start of production and supply from the Moulavibazar gas field last Tuesday is one of the indicators of a turnaround.
The new field at Moulavibazar is set to produce 70 mmcfd per day now and thus this rate of production is projected to double by next July. With the start of operation there, the total supply of gas in the national grid has reached 1470 mmcfd. This amount slightly surpasses the total aggregate demand for gas. However, the grounds for optimism lie in the fact that the operationalisation of a few more fields soon is likely to make available a substantial quantity of additional gas to the national grid in the coming months.
With such additional supplies and the doubling of production at Moulavibazar, a comfortable position in gas supply is likely to be reached by the middle of the year. These developments, no doubt, come as reassuring when the mismatch between gas supply and consumption needs has been troubling all categories of consumers. The increasing supply of gas also has a vital relevance to boosting power production. The reduced availability of gas has had an effect in keeping power generation on the lower side in recent months. This is because the turbines that use gas for power generation had to be denied some quantities of their regular allocated supplies to meet needs in other areas. Hopefully, this condition will come to an end fairly soon with added supplies of gas to the existing power generating units. New industries that are on stream will also raise the demand for gas and their initiators had been in some fear over energy availability to operate them. The worries should now be dissipating with indicators of progress in the energy front. Yet then, everything would depend on how well the ministries involved go about in addressing their tasks with a sense of urgency.
Sometime ago, the Finance Minister remarked that gas is a commodity which is better utilised than not utilised under the ground. The purport of this observation is that an economic resource creates gains in every way when it is really extracted and put through various processes of use or value additions. This wisdom will be seen reflected as gas production rises more and more and the energy finds more and more application in industries and other activities. All signs are there that the country's expanding economy will require more gas. In this connection, the addition of gas supplies to the national grid in the near future brightens the prospects for removing any mismatch between demand and supply. It is a happy sign that the foreign multinational companies are realising the prospect of an expanding market and are adjusting their programmes of future operation accordingly. They should be facilitated to increase production to this end.
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