Govt shows gas reserve scarcity to justify LNG import: Experts

The government is saying that there is no more undiscovered gas reserve in the country to justify the import of liquefied natural gas (LNG), said energy experts and economists at a seminar held in the capital on Saturday.

They also observed that the present energy crisis is not a result of wrong policies, rather it has been created deliberately.

The country's energy sector has been pushed into the crisis with increasing import dependency in exchange of under the table dealings and commission sharing, they added.

Sarbojonkotha, a magazine focused on political, economic and social issues, organised the seminar titled "Power and Energy Crisis: Sources, Transition and Development Questions" at the Professor Muzaffar Ahmed Chowdhury Auditorium at the University of Dhaka.

Geologist Professor Dr Badrul Imam said, "We have discovered gas fields in the eastern part of the country which is only one third of total geography. Still we have two thirds of land and around 90% of the offshore unexplored."

Economist Professor Anu Muhammad said that being a climate victim country, Bangladesh should have taken initiatives to protect the coastal areas – from the Sundarbans to Cox's Bazar.

"But, the government is taking projects that are going to make the coastal areas more vulnerable. We have given them all the data on how the Rampal coal plant is going to pollute the environment and ecosystem. But the government did not care," he said.

"The state is patronising coal projects. But they are reluctant to patronise renewable energy," Anu Muhammad added.

BD Rahmatullah, former director general of Power Cell, said, "If all the under construction coal projects come into operation, the country will lose a significant extent of food production capacity by 2040."

He said that the country has the capacity to produce around 20 GW electricity from solar energy.

Researcher Maha Mirza said, "If a portion of the money spent for LNG import could have been invested in local gas exploration, the country would have been able to ensure gas supply for the next decade."

Engineer Kallol Mustafa said that the government has spent almost a decade to make the Production Sharing Contract (PSC) attractive to international oil and gas companies for our offshore areas."

"But there is an alternative to the PSC which is the service agreement to explore oil and gas by international companies. To protect the state ownership of resources, the government can use the foreign companies' technical expertise to explore gas in the offshore areas. Bapex can lead there," he said.

Among others, DU Professor Dr Mohammad Tanzimuddin Khan and Associate Professor Moshahida Sultana, Engineer Mahbub Sumon, Activist Mizanur Rahman spoke at the seminar.

Dr Samina Luthfa, associate professor of the Department of Sociology at the University of Dhaka and Researcher Maha Mirza jointly moderated the day-long event.