Minister of State for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid said that out of 29 gas fields discovered in the country, 20 producing 5 are abandoned and 4 are still in production.
The State Minister gave this information in response to the question of Independent Member of Parliament Muhammad Saiful Islam during the question and answer session of the Jatiya Sangsad on Thursday (June 20). Speaker Dr. The question and answer table was presented under the chairmanship of Shireen Sharmin Chowdhury.
By 2025, Nasrul Hamid claimed that 50 different types of wells have been dug, and it will be possible to add 618 million cubic feet of gas to the national grid on a successful basis. Excavation and workover activities of 11 of these have been completed. Through which daily production of 126 million cubic feet of gas has been ensured. Gas is being fed into the national grid at the rate of 33 million cubic feet per day.
Another question was asked by Awami League member M. Abdul Latif. In his reply, Minister of State for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid said that currently the demand for gas is about 3800-4000 million cubic feet per day, against which 3000-3100 MMcfd of gas is being supplied by domestic production and importing LNG. Due to shortage in demand and supply, gas connections are on priority in planned industrial areas and power and fertilizer sectors.
While calculating the subsidy, he said that 31 thousand 833 crore subsidy has been given in the current fiscal year. In the same financial year, the government has given subsidy of Tk 5000 crore to LNG sector.
In response to Bahauddin Nashim's question, Nasrul Hamid said, two and a half thousand crores in the financial year 2018-19, three and a half thousand crores in the financial year 2019-20, two thousand and four billion in the financial year 2020-21, six thousand in the financial year 2021-22, six thousand and 315 in the financial year 2022-23. Crore and 5,500 crore subsidy has been given in 2023-24 financial year. The state minister said that 6,500 crores of subsidy will be needed in the financial year 2023-24.
The State Minister said that from 1999-2000 to 2013-14 financial year, Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) faced continuous losses. At that time the government had to give a substantial amount of subsidy. However, the government did not have to pay any subsidy on fuel oil from November 2014 to FY 2022-23 due to the fall in the price of fuel oil in the international market. However, in the fiscal year 2021-22, due to the global situation caused by the Ukraine-Russia war, due to the increase in the price of fuel oil in the international market, BPC made a loss of Tk 2,705,640,000.
Stating that the government currently determines the price of fuel oil in the dynamic pricing formula, Nasrul Hamid said that because the price of fuel oil in the country is adjusted in line with the international market, no subsidy has to be paid in this sector.
Nasrul Hamid said that in the current fiscal year 2023-24, the amount of subsidy for the power sector in the government budget is Tk 35,000 crore and Tk 31,833 crore has been paid. Of this, 11,700 crores have been adjusted through cash and 20,133 crores through bonds.
The next question was asked by Morshed Alam of Noakhali-2 Constituency. In response, the state minister said that the number of approved LPG plants is 78. Out of this, 52 have received initial approval, 24 have received final approval and 2 have contracted with BPC.
In response to Mamunur Rashid Kiran's question, Nasrul Hamid said that initiatives have been taken to install pre-paid/smart pre-paid meters on a priority basis to prevent ghost/abnormal bills.
Independent Member of Parliament. In response to another question of Sohrab Uddin, the Minister of State for Power said that from January 2009 to the present time, 25 thousand 796 MW of electricity has been added to the national grid. As a result, the installed capacity of electricity has increased to 30 thousand 738 MW including captive and renewable energy. The installed power generation capacity in the country is more than the demand. However, due to the Ukraine-Russia war and the global energy crisis, power generation is not possible at full capacity after the Covid-19 pandemic. As a result, there is temporary difficulty in uninterrupted power supply in some places despite the power generation capacity. Apart from this, uninterrupted power supply is being disrupted due to excessive heat and heatwaves in some parts of the country due to a huge increase in the demand for electricity.
Stating that currently 1312.76 megawatts of electricity is being produced from renewable sources, in response to Amatul Kibria Keya Chowdhury's question, the state minister said that the amount of electricity produced from renewable sources in ongoing and under-process projects will stand at 12 thousand 547.22 megawatts. The state minister expressed optimism that they will be connected to the national grid by 2030.
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