Smartly Addressing Energy Sector Priorities

The energy sector needs to be smarter and more efficient in confronting and managing the emerging crisis that may affect energy security from March 2025 onwards.

- Khondkar Abdus Saleque

Petrobangla and its companies must ensure continuing operations of the gas supply infrastructures at optimum levels without interruptions, expediting all exploration and development projects, importing LNG, and evacuating to the national transmission grid. Petrobangla companies must also ensure the elimination of system loss, theft, and pilferage, and improve the efficient use of gas. Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation and its companies must also improve efficiency in importing and supplying liquid petroleum products. The issues with the Single Point Mooring and Chattogram-Dhaka liquid fuel pipeline must be resolved, and efficient transportation petroleum products must be ensured.

Fuel supply will be a major challenge for Bangladesh in managing energy security for the next 3-4 years.

Challenges of Petrobangla

The failure of the bureaucracy-dominated energy sector to explore domestic petroleum and mineral resources is among the main reasons for in the present crisis. A significant quantity of superior-quality coal reserves remain unexploited and a substantial volume of potential petroleum resources onshore and offshore areas remain untapped. One of the major challenges of the interim government is revitalizing Petrobangla and its companies and creating dynamism. Some critical changes have been made Petrobangla and companies. The boards of directors of the Petrobangla companies have been reorganized.

However, experts observe that experienced professionals with past proven track records have not been included. As such no qualitative change may happen. Companies like BAPEX, TGTDCL, GTCL, and RPGCL need people on their boards who have institutional memories and in-depth technical knowledge to make qualitative changes.

Petrobangla desperately needs to increase its gas supply by increasing gas production from its gas fields and increasing the import of LNG.