Govt failed to extract gas from the Bay since the maritime settled ten years back

The recent geo-scientific studies testify that there is more untapped natural gas in Bangladesh than what has so far been extracted. With all certainty that even if the Russia-Ukraine war had not taken place, Bangladesh would have still faced an energy crisis. Despite its own natural gas reserve, the country has failed to increase production and supply from local gas fields. It should move faster with its exploration activities both on-shore and off-shore to replace expensive LNG with its own gas reserve as long as such a resource base is scientifically reckoned, says the International Chamber of Commerce-Bangladesh (ICCB).
Dependence on LNG imports may work out in the short-term, but in the long-run, the price volatility and current global economic uncertainty would make import unsustainable and put pressure on much needed foreign exchange reserves. Bangladesh is aiming to achieve export earnings of $100 billion by 2026. But with the on-going energy crisis it might be difficult to achieve the target as production in most of the industries are well below their capacity due to frequent shut down, said the ICCB news bulletin on Wednesday.
According to experts, the deltaic build of mainland Bangladesh and its off-shore, for all geo-scientific reasons, have been rated as highly prospective areas for natural gas. Proof of such a rating is evidenced in the adjacent areas bordering Bangladesh, notably the offshore Rakhine basin in Myanmar where large-scale gas fields have been discovered since the maritime dispute with Bangladesh was settled in 2012. But sadly, Bangladesh could not be enabled yet to extract any gas from the Bay.
A two-year joint study (2001) by the US Geological Survey (USGS) and Petrobangla shows that Bangladesh has a probability of 50 per cent undiscovered natural gas resource to the tune of about 32 trillion cubic feet (Tcf). Another joint study (2001) of the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NDP) and Hydrocarbon Unit (HCU) suggested that the probability of Bangladesh’s undiscovered gas resources is 42 Tcf. In 2011, Ramboll, a European oil and gas consultant, updated the undiscovered gas resource assessments for Bangladesh and suggested that it is 34 Tcf. Since Bangladesh consumes about one trillion cubic feet of gas per year, the country can be ensured of gas supply for the next 30 years.
As Bangladesh will become a middle income country in 2026, it is going to lose a number of benefits of LDCs. With the current declining foreign exchange reserve, the country is expected to be hard-pressed in the next 2/3 years when the debt repayment becomes due. Besides, $26 billion debt repayment of the private sector borrowing may also make it difficult to manage foreign debt repayment. The authorities must keep alert to face any possible predicament on the way to the debt repayment.