The lone offshore Gas field of Bangladesh is shangu discovered and developed by Shell Cairns Holland Sea Research under PSC with Petrobangla is almost dead.

After coming to operation in 1988 it could not produce at expected rate for even 12 years. This according to many is one of the most expensive gas resource development projects where costs were revised and approved several times in not too transparent manner.

In the name of accelerated Development a hurriedly laid and poorly designed offshore pipeline required expensive refurbishment 5 years after commissioning. Unprofessional rate of production ignoring advice of PB Reservoir specialist Late Quazi Shahidur Rahman caused unfortunate depletion of reserve within 5 years of production.

Unnecessary setting up of white elephant 520MMCFD capacity gas plant at Salimpoor opposite to Faujdarhat Cadet College caused huge drainage of money through cost recovery. This field never ever produced even 50 % of the capacity of the plant.

The gas field tripped more than 100 times causing gas draught in the Chittagong area. For the last three years it is dying its natural death causing immense miseries to all gas users inChittagong area.

PSC permits any operator to produce a maximum of 12% per annum of Ultimate recoverable reserve from the field. The fact that Shangu is set to deplete completely soon if after producing @40MMCFD for the last three years evidence that the operation was managed very unprofessionally with virtually no PB overview. Some people off course made merry at the cost of the nation.

Chittagong and BGSL franchise area must consider itself unfortunate as after Bakhrabad Gas field production disaster in late 90s of the last millennium Shangu is the second field which met same fate due to same reasons- over production. Bangladesh unfortunately did not learn lesson. Many apprehend same fate may happen to Bibiyana as well. Short visioned policy makers act irresponsibly leaving legacy for predecessors.

Shangu syndrome has put entire Chittagong area in serious Gas Crisis.Chittagong most relied on gas from Shangu for a long time. From 140MMCFd production dropped down to 35 over the last two years. National Gas grid can not meet the requirement of Chittagong about 300MMCFD.

The deficit of about 60-70 MMCFD is causing serious crisis to power generation and industry operations. Government despite repeated suggestions did not build another loop line of Bakhrabad –Chittagong to divert more gas from Grid The exploration and Development of Magnama and Hatiya and off shore exploration also did start till now. There is no way that Chittagong will get relief of gas crisis soon unless Government can undertake the following actions expeditiously:

1.  Construct Bakhrabad- Chittagong Loppline on top priority basis,

2. Set up Floating LNG plant beside Shangu offshore platform and arrange to import 500MCCFd LNG within 2 years.

3. Steer Cairn effectively to complete exploration and development of Magnama and Hatiya prospects.

4. Complete works of Semutang ASAP.

5. Engage IOCs to explore in Offshore without any fuss

There can not be any major investment in Chittagong area in any energy consuming industry until gas situation is sorted out. There are floating LNG plant suppliers who can set up and commission floating LNF G facilities on Shangu area in less than two years. The platform and offshore pipeline and onshore gas plant can be utilised.

We hope PM Sheikh Hasina will act positively for it now for greater national interest. Several existing industries are seriously suffering from gas crisis. Many investors investing millions of dollars are waiting for gas connection. The situation is giving wrong signal to investment community.

Its long time demand and hot topic on talkshow to develop the tourism infrustucture if Bangladesh.After all a good sun showing on the denamd.Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has directed authorities to take steps to make all places of natural beauty, as well as religious and historic spots in the country attractive to local and foreign tourists. She ordered infrastructure development at Cox’s Bazar, St. Martin and Maheshkhali islands, Kuakata, and other major tourist spots. She also suggested introducing Tourist Police to deal with security concerns in the tourism sector. The directives of the Prime Minister came following the first meeting of the National Tourism Council. Minister for Finance, Minister for Foreign Affairs, Minister for Civil Aviation and Tourism, Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister, and Secretaries of the Ministries were also present. The Prime Minister emphasized maximum utilization of the world’s longest sea beach, Cox’s Bazar, and ensuring security of the tourists. While modernizing the tourism spots, the traditional beautiful face of rural Bangladesh and the country’s culture and heritage will have to be protected from distortion, she said. The Prime Minister said there are hundreds of ancient mosques, temples, pagodas, and churches across the country with outstanding architecture and significant history that need to be protected. She asked the Tourism Ministry to work with devotion and a new spirit to modernize the tourism industry. “Other countries present even a small river with much attraction to the tourists. Why shall we lag behind even when nature has bestowed us with its bounty?” she questioned. Underling the importance of Chittagong Hill Tracts as a tourist attraction, the prime minister said peace was restored in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) following the peace accord of 1997. The hill districts can be turned into places with tourism attractions. She asked to ensure representation of the Chittagong Hill Tract Regional Council in every committee on tourism matters. The Prime Minister reiterated her call to introduce package tourism among the SAARC member-countries, particularly among Bangladesh, India, Nepal, and Bhutan for the economic welfare of the region’s population.

The Government of Bangladesh aims at providing electricity to its entire rural population by 2020 to help boost social development and economic growth. In 2002, access to electricity in Bangladesh was about 30 percent. With the Rural Electrification Board connecting about 400,000 consumers every year, it would take it more than 35 years to provide access to all. Furthermore, it is physically difficult and economically not feasible to bring the whole country under a grid based electricity network because Bangladesh is a delta with more than 400 rivers.

To achieve the government’s target of full access in a cost effective manner, this project proposed a two track approach: (i) expand the electricity distribution grid to connect new consumers and
(ii) support renewable energy options to provide electricity in areas not reached by the grid by making solar home systems (SHS) available to households and a biomass pilot project to electrify village markets and associated small enterprises and households. The project is implemented by the Rural Electrification Board (REB) through its rural electric cooperatives (Pally Bidyut Samities – PBS) and the Infrastructure Development Company (IDCOL) through its participating organizations – mainly NGOs and private sector companies. IDCOL provides the participating organizations with subsidies and concessional loans to purchase PV systems in bulk, and the partners can then provide credit to rural households to buy systems.

As of September 2006, the project has brought electricity to more than 400,000 consumers in Bangladesh. Access to electricity has increased to 38% from 30% in 2002. At the same time 80,000 consumers had been provided with Solar Home Systems (SHS), surpassing the original target of 50,000. These households, connected by SHS, would have never received electricity if only conventional electrification methods had been used.

Highlights:
This is some of the impact electricity is bringing to people’s lives (findings of a baseline survey measuring the socioeconomic impact of rural electrification):
- Time spent by a child on reading/studying is likely to increase by about 6 percent under electric lighting than when kerosene lamp of dry cell battery is used
- Increase of electricity use at home leads to a decrease of 20 percent in children’s school-days missed caused by illness, compared to non-electrified areas;
- Electricity use at home makes 18 percent more time available per day for listening to radio compared to areas without electricity
- Time spent on household chores decrease by 6 percent in the electrified households compared to non-electrified households
- Use of electricity at home increases the incidence of home business by about 8 percent compared to non-use of electricity at home

- The total project cost is about US$ 298 million, of which IDA provided US$ 191 million credit, government provided US$ 92 million, GEF provided US$ 8 million grant, and local communities provided US$ 7 million equity.
- Apart from the investment component of increasing access to rural people, IDA contributed in designing components to increase the financial viability of the rural electric cooperatives.
- By rationalizing the service boundaries between urban and rural utilities and renovating of the old distribution network (both supported by the project) the system losses of REB have been reduced from more than 18 percent in FY 2001 to less than 13 percent in FY 2006.
- Rationalizing the service boundaries reduced duplication of investment as previously both the urban power utilities and REB were connecting consumers in semi-urban areas. As this project has clearly demarcated service boundaries and the urban utilities are transferring their assets in semi-urban areas to REB, investment requirement to connect the same consumers have been halved.
- This project proved the importance of renewable energy options as a practical method of electrification. Previously, government had little faith in these schemes. Now government has also started to contribute funds to promote renewable energy options
- With support from IDA, REB is computerizing its Head Office along with most of the PBSs and is carrying out a financial restructuring study to review the subsidy mechanism of the PBSs and to find out ways to target the subsidy better and to commercialize the financially viable PBSs.

To achieve the Government’s vision of the power sector is to provide electricity for all by 2020, government needs to ensure that REB and PBSs are working towards this vision in a sustainable manner. IDA strategy is to strengthen the managerial capability of the Rural Electrification Board to ensure that it can function autonomously and at arms length from the government. This would require some changes in the way REB is currently structured. IDA would like to support this change given the strategic role of REB in rural electrification. The SHS market created by this project would also require some further support to become mature. While other donors such as KfW and GTZ have already shown interest further assistance from IDA and GEF may be required.

Bangladesh  – Straw fences and tin roofs: the homes in Pritomoddi village are typical of millions of others across rural Bangladesh, except for one thing: the shiny solar panels that provide electricity, all the time.

At the moment, only 40 per cent of Bangladesh’s nearly 150 million people have access to electricity, often only for a few hours a day.

At some places, electricity does now show up for days, making lives difficult at home and disrupting industries and farming, where irrigation pumps stand idle.

The country’s power system is almost entirely dependent on fast depleting fossil-fuel, with state-owned and private sector power plants only able to generate up to 3,800 megawatts of electricity a day against a demand of 5,500 megawatts.

All of this makes solar energy systems, offered to villagers heavily subsidised by the World Bank and via an installment scheme run by the state-owned Infrastructure and Development Company Limited (IDCOL), a big relief.

“Life has become much easier now,” said Kulsum Begum, a mother of four whose husband and son work abroad and who lives in Pritomoddi, some 60 km (40 miles) southeast of the capital Dhaka.

Begum installed a 40-watt solar system on the roof of her house, which powers four bulbs, one television and also recharges her lifeline: her mobile phone.

“Whenever I need something, I call my husband or son on the cellphone. I am so happy now,” she said.

NEWS .

Grameenphone (GP), the country’s top mobile phone operator, has selected Chinese telecommunications equipment maker Huawei to deploy first solar-powered base transceiver stations (BTS) in Bangladesh, .

Huawei will install its fourth-generation base stations, using a solar and diesel generator hybrid power solution to provide mobile connectivity in rural areas. The base stations will primarily be powered by harnessing solar energy without having to be linked to an electricity grid. The diesel generator will be used as a backup.

Once deployed, the new system will improve GP’s network performance by preventing service interruption, a previously persistent challenge in Bangladesh due to power instability, a Huawei press statement said in the capital, Dhaka.

Huawei has developed a series of end-to-end green solutions for wireless broadband networks, using a combination of solar energy, wind power and diesel fuel, according to the statement.

Norway’s telecom giant Telenor owns 62 percent of the GP, which was launched in 1997, while the remaining 38 percent is held by local Grameen Telecom.

US Ambassador James F Moriarty today said Distrust and suspicion were holding back Bangladesh’s development potential.
“Politicians attack businessmen, businessmen attack bureaucracy,” the US ambassador told a seminar on public private partnership co-organised by the American Chamber of Commerce in Bangladesh and Eastern Bank at Dhaka Sheraton Hotel.

He said obviously there was a lot of suspicion out there, maybe for certain reasons, but everybody must recognise that the time was to move forward.
For example, Moriarty said, if Chevron and the government had worked together to increase Bangladesh’s vastly reduced power some people would insist that it was an evidence of conspiracy.“If the governments of Bangladesh and India sign a regional power sharing deal, some people would say it is a conspiracy,” he said.
The US envoy categorically said: “It is not conspiracy, it is partnership.”
Moriarty however hailed Bangladesh for coming to a consensus on that energy is a priority.
“Improvement in energy situation would have knock on effects both on the industries and households,” he noted.

ABOUT James F. Moriarty
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

James F. Moriarty, October 3, 2007. Official U.S. State Department photoJames F. Moriarty is a United States diplomat and career foreign service officer with the rank of Minister-Counselor. As of 2008 he is the current U.S. Ambassador to Bangladesh. His appointment was confirmed as by the Senate on March 14, 2008 and he was sworn in on March 26, 2008.

Prior to this assignment, Mr. Moriarty served as U.S. Ambassador to Nepal between 2004 and 2007. Before moving to Nepal, Ambassador Moriarty served in 2002–2004 as Special Assistant to the President of the United States of America and Senior Director at the National Security Council. He was responsible for advising on and coordinating U.S. policy on East Asia, South Asia, and the Pacific region. Ambassador Moriarty also worked in the White House in 2001–2002 as National Security Council Director for China Affairs.

In 1998–2001, Ambassador Moriarty served as Minister-Counselor for Political Affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing. In 1994–1998, he led the General Affairs (Political) Section at the American Institute in Taiwan. Ambassador Moriarty shaped the U.S. response to Chinese missile tests in the Taiwan Strait, the U.S. bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade, and the ramming of a U.S. EP-3 plane off China’s Hainan Island. In these jobs and at the National Security Council, Ambassador Moriarty helped lay the groundwork for U.S.-China policy for the 21st century.

As Deputy Director of the State Department’s Office of United Nations (UN) Political Affairs in 1991–93, Ambassador Moriarty coordinated U.S. policy on UN Security Council issues. He received the American Foreign Service Association’s Rivkin Award for his principled approach to the break-up of the former Yugoslavia.

Ambassador Moriarty was Diplomat-in-Resident at the East-West Center in Honolulu, Hawaii in 1993–94. Earlier assignments in his career included postings at the U.S. Embassies in Pakistan, Swaziland, and Morocco, additional tours in Beijing and Taipei, and work on African issues at the U.S. Department of State. He joined the Foreign Service in 1975.

Ambassador Moriarty earned his Bachelor of Arts in History, summa cum laude, from Dartmouth College. He speaks Chinese, Nepali, Urdu, French and Bangla. Among his numerous awards are individual State Department Superior Honor Awards for his work in China (2000) and on Yugoslavia (1993) and two Group Superior Honor Awards. For his reporting and analysis in Pakistan, Ambassador Moriarty won the Director General’s 1987 Award as the State Department’s best reporting officer. He received a Presidential Pay Award in 2005 and, on numerous occasions, State Department Performance Pay.

A key cabinet body Thursday dragged its feet in awarding offshore gas blocks to two foreign companies, saying the leasing process needs further review, an official said.

The cabinet committee on economic affairs found some last minute ‘gaps’ in the information provided by the energy ministry on the selection of two companies for offshore gas exploration.

State-run energy giant Petrobangla had primarily selected the US oil company ConocoPhillips and Irish firm Tullow for nine offshore blocks under the country’s latest offshore bidding launched in February 2008.

ConocoPhillips was picked for eight blocks and Tullow for one, although the energy ministry has recently halved the number of blocks to be leased out and sent the revised proposal to the cabinet committee for final approval.

The cabinet committee led by finance minister AMA Muhith reviewed the ministry’s final proposal but found it “lacked adequate data and information,” cabinet division spokesman Motiur Rahman told reporters.

“The committee members also observed that the proposal needs further review,” he said, adding the energy ministry has been asked to submit the proposal again within the shortest possible time after covering the gaps.

Energy ministry officials have refused to comment on the cabinet committee’s feet dragging, but they sounded confident that the offshore blocks would be awarded soon to boost the country’s long term energy security.

“We are going to send the proposal again after plugging the information gaps,” a top official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The offshore bidding was launched by the army-backed caretaker government in the wake of depleting gas reserve in the country. But it left the decision on awarding of the gas blocks to the elected government.

The two international oil companies (IOCs) pledged to invest a total of $492.52 million in exploration if they were awarded the exploration rights in all the nine blocks.

ConocoPhillips offered to invest $442.67 million and offered a bank guarantee of the same amount, while Tullow committed to invest $49.85 million and offered a bank guarantee of $33.9 million.

The cabinet committee also sent back the underground metro-rail project to the communications ministry, finding the proposal lacking necessary data, Rahman said.

“The committee has said that the metro-rail project needs further review,” he said.

The communications ministry had sought the cabinet body to invite international tender for the subway project and to finalise the terms and conditions committee to execute the project.

The government has undertaken a feasibility study on generating wind power in the coastal areas, particularly in the offshore islands and haor areas of greater Mymensingh and Sylhet region.

Source The study has been initiated in the light of experience on the pilot projects implemented in Kutubdia and Feni, said Housing and Public Works minister Advocate Abdul Mannan Khan in the House on Wednesday.
He was replying to a call attention notice of Mostaq Ahmed Ruhi (Netrakona-1) in the parliament on the matters of public interests on behalf of the State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources.
He said the government would take steps for setting up windmills to produce electricity in those areas if the result of the study is positive.
He said the government has recently approved the Renewable Energy Policy for development and promotion of renewable energy to produce at least 10 percent power from wind and other natural sources.
In his notice, Ruhi said the government should take immediate measures to tap the wind force in the coastal and haor areas of the country to produce electricity to resolve the power crisis.
The lawmaker said India is now producing over 10,000MW power from wind of same velocity available in Bangladesh . The highest wind speed in the coastal areas of Bangladesh is found when the country suffers from dire power shortage, he added.
Referring to the Kutubdia Wind Power Project established one and a half years ago with a capacity of producing 1-mw power, he said it is an example that the wind power mills are feasible in Bangladesh .
The country can produce about 20,000-MW electricity through utilizing the wind speed in its vast coastal area, he claimed saying that the machinery of such plants are also possible to manufacture locally.

Bangladesh is changing its senerio rapidly and becoming the lime light for investment

“Implications of the recent Bangladesh election for business”at the US Chamber of Commerce in Washington DC yesterday Ms Curtis was speaking as a panelist .
In her comment she cleared the openion that Bangladesh has emerged as an attractive destination for foreign investment.

 This was stated by Ms Lisa Curtis, Senior Research Fellow at the prestigious think-tank the Heritage Foundation, a according to a message received here from Washington DC yesterday.
Two main arguments in favour of her proposal. First, according to Ms Curtis, Bangladesh society is least susceptible to extremism as proved in the recently held election. Secondly, progress in women empowerment in Bangladesh has provided a solid check on the growing radicalisation prevalent in some other Muslim countries. Ms. Curtis also said that economic option seems brighter now than earthier and hoped that there will be more tolerance among the political parties so that they can work together for the people of Bangladesh. She also urged the US government to consider lifting of all tariffs and there by allowing duty free access to products from least developed countries like Bangladesh to USA.

Bangladesh Ambassador to USA Humayun Kabir, who also spoke as a panelist, provided a run down on Bangladesh’s recent election and elaborated on how, compared to other economies in Asia. Kabir urged the US companies to come forward and take advantage of the investment opportunities in Bangladesh.

The economy of Bangladesh has shown strong resilience and thereby acted as a bulwark for the country’s economy in the face of the current global economic and financial meltdown, he said.
Ambassador Kabir give a detailed sketch on how Bangladesh economy has maintained its strong resilience and added that the strong growth in three main areas,—namely internal resource mobilization, agriculture and manufacturing are attributable for this resilience.

Remittance is also flowing strong and the confidence of the business community is growing, he said adding through all these, Bangladesh has emerged as an attractive destination for foreign investment.