Industrial gas connection in this month. Investments worth around 2000 crore rupees have been stuck in the residential sector

Dhaka Times Report. Due to the gas crisis, the country's industries and residential sectors are in a critical condition. Recently, Petrobangla announced to provide some new connections to industrial plants.

According to Petro Bangla sources, limited gas connection will start from mid-April. However, priority will be given to those industrial customers who applied before the gas connection was cut off. According to the calculations of Petrobangla, 90 million cubic feet of gas will be added to the national grid with the launch of the Muchai compressor by Chevron, according to the officials concerned. Apart from this, at the same time, the stakeholders expressed hope to add another 20 million cubic feet to the national grid from the two fields of Bapex.

On the other hand, the government is not thinking of providing gas connection to residential customers at the moment. However, another source said that gas connection can only be given to residential customers in Rajshahi as gas supply has started recently and industrial customers are few. Meanwhile, on February 28, an energy advisor said at an investment board event that gas connections to industries will start from March-April. Meanwhile, sources also said that new gas connections have been given to many business establishments on priority basis even though the connections were closed on the pretext of low gas production.

Petrobangla Chairman Prof. Dr. Hossain Mansoor said in this regard, Chevron's Muchai Compressor will be inaugurated on March 30. Prior to this, the compressor will be put into operation on a trial basis in mid-March. When the Muchai compressor is commissioned, it will immediately get about 90 million cubic feet of gas from Chevron's field in the Sylhet region. Apart from this, 20 million cubic feet of gas will be available from two other fields. He also said that gas connection will start from mid-April. However, residential customers are not being considered for gas connection, he said.

If Sylhet's Muchai compressor starts, the gas pressure will increase. As a result, 60 million cubic feet of gas per day will be available from the Jalalabad gas field under the control of Chevron. Apart from this, Chevron drilled two new wells in Moulvibazar gas field. 30 million cubic feet of gas can be extracted daily from these two wells. A total of 90 million cubic feet of capacity will be available immediately after the compressor is commissioned. Moreover, since the construction of the gas supply pipeline from the Noakhali Sundalpur gas field under the control of BAPEX has been completed, 10 million cubic feet of gas will be added to the national grid from this field by the end of April. At the same time, an additional 10 million cubic feet of gas will be available from the Salda River gas field around the same time. A total of 110 million cubic feet of gas is being added to the national grid by the end of April.

An official of Petro Bengal also said that the work of drilling a new exploration well in the Salda river gas field will be completed by May. Simultaneously drilling of a new exploratory well at Kailastila will be completed. Apart from this, new exploration wells are being drilled at Kapasia. Drilling of exploratory wells at Shrakail has already started. Besides, the rig will be taken to dig exploration wells in the Sunetra gas field, the official said. All these exploratory wells are being worked by the state-owned company BAPEX. If gas is found in all these exploratory wells, gas will be supplied to the national grid within a year. Apart from this, Santos is drilling exploratory wells in Sangu, the only gas field in the deep sea. Santos has announced the supply of 20 to 30 million cubic feet of gas from this well in South Sanguru by May. However, officials of Petrobangla say that it will not be possible to get more than 16 million cubic feet of gas from South Sangu. The government stopped giving new gas connections to new industrial and commercial customers from August 2009 and from July 2010 to residential customers. At that time, it was said by the government that no new gas connection will be given until the production of gas reaches 220 million cubic feet per day. Later, under the pressure of industrial entrepreneurs, on January 3, 2011, a policy decision was taken to introduce gas connections to industrial factories conditionally. A decision was also taken to give gas connection to export-oriented industries, educational institutions, hospitals on priority basis. In the meeting held at the Prime Minister's office on that day, the Prime Minister's adviser on energy affairs. An executive committee of 6 members was formed by convening Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury. It is said that this committee has approved gas connection to several industrial plants.

Not only industrial factories, but thousands of new houses have been built in the capital city, including Dhaka. It cannot be transferred due to gas. Due to this, the investment of about 2000 crore rupees is stuck in the construction industry. According to a source of traders, there are 35 factories that have not yet brought machineries for industrial factories. Titas has a list of these companies. Gas condition is very bad. Gas is worse than electricity. Many industrial plants are closed due to gas. Many factories cannot be started. There is no regular supply of electricity and gas. As a result, many factories were forced to reduce their production capacity. Besides, employment has also decreased. Apart from this, even if the gas supply is not normal, the minimum charge is being collected. Note that currently the daily gas production is 250 million cubic feet. And the demand is two and a half thousand million cubic feet. In this situation, it is a matter of thinking how much benefit will be given even if there is a limited scale of connection to the industries. Moreover, due to non-connection of gas to residential houses, a delicate situation has also been created there. Experts say that exemption should be given especially to those houses which have connections but need to be extended.