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| :: Govt plans to expand LPG use to end energy crisis ~ |
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The government is eyeing on rapid expansion of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) uses along with gas rationing in industries and other bulk consumers to come out of the current severe crisis, officials said Saturday.
But businesses and other affected people see the government plan as non-pragmatic and said it would fail to make any significant headway.
The energy ministry recently held a meeting with the country's LPG marketers to have a clear picture of the overall marketing networks of this petroleum gas and its prospects to ease the country's perennial energy supply crunch.
"We also urged them to strengthen their marketing in the country to woo people to use LPG especially for cooking," energy secretary Mohammad Mohsin told the FE.
He said augmentation of the LPG users could be a good option to slim down the extent of the country's energy crisis.
The state-owned largest gas marketing and distribution company Titas also came up with a set of recommendations, including introduction of holiday staggering in industries and closure of CNG-filling stations for at least two days in a week to cope with the gas supply shortfall.
Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Company (TGTDC) also pinpointed the necessity to reduce gas supplies to a number of power plants and fertiliser factories, including that of Sidhhirganj power plant and Ghorasal fertiliser factory.
"We have discussed the issues to mitigate the countrywide natural gas crisis and would forward our recommendations to Petrobagla," said managing director of Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Company (TGTDC) Abdul Aziz Khan.
He said low gas pressure in winter has long been a common problem in some of the areas in the capital.
"The problem arises mainly where the gas pipelines are narrow and crisscross in an unplanned way," Mr Khan added.
Country's overall gas production is now hovering around 1960 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) but gas supply shortage only Titas's areas is over 200 mmcfd, said senior Titas official.
The government, however, believes around 70 mmcfd of gas could be saved by execution of the government plan.
Pointing to the government plan of LPG expansion Syed Mahmudul Haq, a top official of a leading LPG marketing company, said: "expansion of LPG markets would not be possible overnight as the LPG importers are facing tough challenges running businesses here."
He said currently the importers have to count 25 per cent import duty, while importing LPG cylinders and other accessories, which is not conducive to business expansion.
"The government has to frame an optimum energy pricing policy to ensure fair prices of energy products," Mr Haq added.
The country consumes around 100,000 tonnes of LPG every year and the consumers are mostly the urban people in district towns and light engineering workshops across the country.
The state-owned LPG producer supplies 20 per cent of the market need and private players import the remaining 80 per cent. |
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