Affordability, availability major challenges in energy security: Experts

Affordability and availability of energy have become the major challenges in ensuring energy security and they are getting tougher as the country is becoming import dependent for its primary energy (oil, gas and coal) in absence of local exploration, said experts at a virtual discussion on Sunday.

Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman dreamed of ensuring the country's energy security by procuring five gas fields from "Shell Oil" at a nominal price on 9 August 1975.

Currently, Bangladesh imports 800 mmcf/d (million cubic feet per day) Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) which is one fourth of its total 3200 mmcf/d gas consumption, but three years back, the local gas fields met the country's daily gas demand, said speakers at the discussion titled "Bangabandhu's Energy Strategies and Our Energy Security," organised by the fortnightly magazine Energy & Power.

Apart from gas, the country is wholly dependent on imports for its fuel oil and recently it has started importing coal to generate electricity, said the experts at the discussion. 

They said due to the import cost, gas, electricity and a number of finished products are getting expensive.

Dr Ahsan H Mansur, executive director of Policy Research Institute of Bangladesh, said, "Our primary focus should be on ways of solving these problems."  

Mohammad Hossain, director general at Power Cell of Ministry of Power Energy and Mineral Resources, said, "Our energy security is under threat. This threat is getting more challenging as we are gradually becoming an import dependent country."

"Affordability is also under challenge as the primary energy is imported," he added.

Nasrul Hamid, state minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources, said, "Affordable and uninterrupted energy supply won't be possible without formulating a proper gas management system that includes a smart and tech-enabled system."

Nasrul Hamid said such a management system should have been in place 20 years ago, but it did not happen.

"For that, we need proper teamwork and knowledgeable manpower," he said.

Talking about gas exploration from the local fields, Nasrul Hamid said, "From exploration we can get only 200-300 mmcf gas per day, but that is not enough. We need thousands of mmcf of gas per day. If I don't go for imports, how will our economy be operational?" 

On the other hand, Maqbul-E-Elahi Chowdhury, member (Gas) at Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission, emphasised on gas exploration.

He said, "Whatever progress we see in the country's industrial sector, it was possible because of the affordable and available energy. But gas exploration in the local fields has been neglected in the last few years, though the consumers themselves are paying money with their gas bill for the exploration."

He suggested the government open its resource data to make the foreign companies interested in exploration.

Khondkar Abdus Saleque, contributing Editor of Energy & Power, presented the keynote paper, and Mollah Amzad Hossain, editor of the magazine, moderated the programme.

Among others, former professor of the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology Dr Nurul Islam and expatriate Professor Dr Firoz Alam spoke at the programme.