Intraco to supply gas from Bhola to industries from September

• Intraco is going to sign a contract with Sundarban Gas Company Limited, on Sunday 
• Contract for 10 years 
• Cost of per unit gas set at Tk 47.60
• Intraco will received Tk30.50 against each unit
• Government used to get Tk35 per unit CNG
• Now it will get only Tk17 per unit from Bhola's gas

Intraco Refueling Station Limited is going to ship surplus gas from the gas fields of Bhola to industries in Dhaka and Gazipur from this September, bringing much-needed relief to the gas-hungry factories. 

To this end, Intraco is going to sign a 10-year contract with Sundarban Gas Company Limited, a state-owned gas distribution company that distributes gas in Khulna Divisional City and Bhola, on Sunday, said the company's Secretary GM Salahuddin.

Initially, Intraco will compress 5 million cubic feet (mmcf) of gas per day from Bhola's gas fields and transport it to the consumers' point through cascade cylinders in trucks. Later, they will increase the compressed volume to 25mmcf per day.

Industries will have to pay Tk47.60 for a unit of gas (CM) though the current rate of industrial gas is Tk30 per unit. 

Confirming the matter, Tofayel Ahmed, managing director at Sundarban Gas Company Limited told The Business Standard that they expect Intraco would be able to ship the gas within four months.

"We asked them to start the shipment within three months. But the entrepreneur (Intraco) wants more time as a precaution against weather during the rainy season," he said.

Amid the outcry of different industries starved of energy, Prime Minister's Energy Adviser Dr Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury on 23 October last year floated the idea of fetching 80mmcfd of gas in compressed form from the Bhola gas field.

Intraco Refueling Station Limited has been picked for the project under the special act for the power and energy sector – Quick Enhancement of Electricity and Energy Supply (Special Provisions) Act 2010.

Apart from its role of merely conversion and carrier, under the new contract, Intraco will be given the power to select consumers from the Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Company Limited's distribution areas in Dhaka and Gazipur for gas supply and collect bills, reads a document obtained by The Business Standard.

A source at Titas Gas said there are 18 industrial consumers in Gazipur and Bhaluka with 10mmcf gas deficit per day.

Meanwhile, the three Bhola gas fields have around 200mmcf production capacity, while the production hovers between 80mmcf to 85mmcf.

Therefore, around 120mmcf surplus capacity remains unused in the nine wells of the Shahbazpur, Bhola and Ilisha gas fields.