In a time of global energy crisis for reasons including Covid-19 pandemic and Russia-Ukraine war, energy experts have called for increasing dependence on local resources including gas produced in the country, solar plants, and Kaptai hydropower plant.
“We do not know where the oil prices will go because of the war. We should be cautious for three-four years. We need to increase our own capacity,” said Policy Research Institute Executive Director Ahsan H Mansur at a roundtable on “World Energy Crisis and Challenges of Bangladesh” on Saturday.
Editors Guild Bangladesh organised the meeting chaired by Mozammel Babu, president of Editors Guild Bangladesh, at Dhaka Gallery in the capital.
“We have to make sacrifices. The government gains in loadshedding but people lose. Whether this war goes on or not, the price of gas will come down at some point. After 2030, there will be no cars other than the electric ones in the world. Oil prices will come down after the next 5-10 years. Gas prices will also gradually decrease,” said Ahsan H Mansur.
Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) Chairman ABM Azad said, “From 1999 to 2013-14, the BPC incurred losses of around Tk53,000 crores. It had to be covered by maintaining the supply chain. Around Tk8,000 crore has been returned to the government, but Tk27,000 crores of debt still remain.”
Commenting BPC’s profit of about Tk45,000 crores, the BPC chairman explained the government has been continuing fuel imports sometimes with loans, sometimes with bond facilities. The government provided BPC with support of about Tk44,800 crores in different forms.
From 2014-15 to 2020-21, the BPC made a profit of about Tk42,992 crore.
“From this amount, Tk8,000 crore have been returned to the government. Projects involving Tk34,261 crore have been taken, which are fully funded by the BPC. Twelve of these projects – each involving around Tk5,000-6,000 crore – are currently going on. This money was not spent anywhere, it was invested in various activities,” said the BPC chairman.
Answering another question, he said, “In 2019, and during Covid-19 pandemic the price of oil dropped so much that we had capacity to buy but we did not have the capacity to stock it.”
In response to the question whether he wants the National Board of Revenue to waive taxes, the BPC chairman said he does not want to give any opinion here because the entire tax structure is a government policy.
“BPC will follow the decision that the government will take from the political position,” he said.
In response to the question whether the BPC is efficient enough, its chief claimed the agency has the efficiency needed to maintain the country’s fuel supply.
“The internationally accepted rate of pilferage is 0.3% where that rate here …….
Source: https://www.tbsnews.net/bangladesh/energy/extract-more-local-gas-explore-solar-power-experts-476626