Govt plans to bring Bhola gas in the form of CNG to ease power crisis

Staff Reporter :
The government has planned to bring gas from Bhola’s Shahbazpur field in the form of CNG with a view to reducing the gas crisis to some extent and it would be supplied to different industrial and power generation units.
Due to lack of gas, power generation disrupted and load-shedding has intensified across the country. Besides, the production of industries has also been hampered.
Considering the ongoing situation, Petrobangla is planning to use Bhola gas in the form of CNG to meet the shortage of gas in power plants and industries.
Meantime, a committee has been formed in this regard to find out ways on how to bring the Bhola gas in the form of CNG. According to multiple sources of Petrobangla, the government has planned to use gas in the form of CNG from Shahbazpur field’s gas in Bhola in ‘cascade system’.
A cascade filling system is a high-pressure gas cylinder storage system that is used for the refilling of smaller compressed gas cylinders and transported elsewhere.
Once the gas is filled up in cylinders then it distributed through pipelines to distribution companies or directly to industrial areas.
According to Petrobangla sources, the plan is yet to be finalised. “A committee has been formed in this regard. The committee is working to examine the issue on how it is practical and how it is distributed globally through this plan to supply gas in the form of CNG,” Engineer Biswajit Saha, General Manager (Strategic Planning) of Petrobangla told The New Nation on Monday.
The committee has been looking after on various issues including uses of gas, transportation and risks in the form of CNG technology.
What kinds of practices are followed globally to use gas in the form of CNG will be incorporated in the committee report.
Even, how the related officials will work as per global standard is under review as Bangladesh has not yet been used CNG system on a large scale.
Therefore, it is yet not clear what will be the skills and experience of those who will do the work. As a result, every step should be followed thoroughly, the sources added.
Earlier on Sunday, Prime Minister’s Energy Adviser Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury said, “We have some gas in Bhola. Efforts are underway to convert it into CNG. It is expected that 80 million cubic feet of gas per day will be possible to bring from Bhola. Besides, we are also expecting that it is possible to extract another 100 million cubic feet of gas from our existing wells. We are working on the matter.”
No major initiative had been seen in the last 27 years to extract the gas after the discovery of gas reserves in Bhola island district in 1995.
Various plans have been made at different times, but it has come to a standstill due to economic or political reasons.
Bapex currently has five gas wells in production at Shahbazpur in Bhola. The wells have a daily production capacity of 120 million cubic feet of gas.