Bangladesh faces gas shortage as demand picks up

By Serajul Islam Quadir

DHAKA (Reuters) - Bangladesh faces shortages of natural gas of up to 200 million cubic feet a day (mmcfd) in coming months due to rising demand and the failure of past governments to find new sources, energy officials said on Sunday.

"We don't have any magic touch to solve such a problem overnight, but we undertook a series of programmes to augment the supply from our existing sources," said Jalal Ahmed, chairman of the state-run Bangladesh Oil, Gas and Mineral Corporation (Petrobangla).

"The inhabitants and industries in the country's prime seaport city of Chittagong and neighbouring areas are already facing a shortfall of at least 50 mmcfd gas," Jalal told Reuters.

The crisis in Chittagong has worsened as gas production from the country's only offshore field, Sangu, 80 km from the town, has dropped to about 60 mmcfd from 120 mmcfd.

British firm Cairn Energy Plc operates this field.

"It is normal depletion, but we have started an overhauling programme to augment output as soon as possible," a company official said.

Another official said a lack of gas had forced the Karnaphuli Export Processing Zone in Chittagong to shelve a plan to set up power plants to provide electricity to new factories.

Bangladesh wants to cut poverty by 50 percent by 2015 but that needs economic growth of at least 8 percent a year.