Bangladesh, struggling to ensure energy security after 2011 when its proven and recoverable reserves of gas runs out, will intensify efforts to diversify energy sources, a senior official said on Tuesday.
Bangladesh faces a shortage of 100 million cubic feet (mmcf) of gas every day now and if it fails to find and explore new natural gas reserves it will have a serious problem, said M. Tamim, a special aide to the head of the government for the ministry of power, energy and mineral resources.
"We must discover more gas and for that a third international tender has been issued to explore gas in the deep sea," he told a meeting of the American Chamber of Commerce in Bangladesh.
Tamim said up to 8 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of gas might be added to the country’s 13.54 tcf of proven and recoverable gas by further exploring onshore and near-offshore fields.
"The (current) reserve is depleting fast and only after five years there may be a crucial crisis if we do not discover or import gas," Tamim told the meeting attended by American investors and businessmen.
Bangladesh can supply up to 1,738 mmcf of gas a day against a daily demand of 1,833 mmcf, officials said. If the present trend continues, its gas reserves will dry up by 2015.
Tamim said the country’s army-backed interim authority — which would likely stay in office until a promised election is held around the end of this year — was also making efforts to import gas from neighbouring energy-rich Myanmar.
Bangladesh has been discussing importing gas through a pipeline from the military-ruled country in exchange supplying fertilizer to Myanmar.
Tamim said Myanmar had proposed exporting gas to Bangladesh with a condition that a portion of fertilizer produced at the Chittagong port city should be shared with them.
There are two large urea manufacturing factories in the Chittagong region, 200 kilometres (125 miles) off the Myanmar border, but the plants are unable to run smoothly due to inadequate supply of natural gas.
Tamim said Bangladesh also planned to set up a nuclear power plant by 2015 to meet fast-increasing demand of electricity.
Bangladesh has more than 2.5 billion tonnes of coal reserves located in its northwestern region, but lifting coal from there has been delayed for years because of protests by residents and environment campaigners.
The government recently issued a new coal policy to address these issues and allow Petrobangla certain control over foreign explorers.