A DECLINE in gas production by 15 per cent in five years, with more than 8 per cent having happened in the past 16 months, is worrying. Experts say that the decline has accelerated because of lacklustre drilling efforts and an absence of investment for about a decade and a half even as the authorities struggle to supply gas to industries and households. Many industries, mainly export-oriented textile, ceramic, knitting and apparel, are also reported to be in a difficult situation so much so that production in most factories has almost halved because of the continued gas shortage in recent times. All this suggests that the government has hardly given any attention to issues of gas exploration by local companies. What is further worrying is that the government is more keen on meeting the shortage through import, as the Awami League government, which fell amidst a mass uprising in August 2024. Gas production on December 3 stood at 708 million cubic feet a day, while the production on August 8, 2024, when the interim government assumed office three days after the fall of the Awami League government, was 776.6mmcfd. Gas production on August 8, 2020, however, stood at 833.4mmcfd.
The management of gas production is neither a short-run nor even a medium-run affair. Gas extraction from a well takes several years after discovery. Experts and the media have for long talked about strengthening Bangladesh Petroleum Exploration and Production Company Limited, or Bapex, to drill wells for hydrocarbon exploration. The domestic wells that meet the demand now were discovered in the 1960s–1990s. The government had plans to drill 108 wells in 2016–2021, but the plans remained on paper. After the gas crisis surfaced in 2022, the government had plans to increase domestic gas production by digging 46 wells by 2025, but the plans have never taken off. Local companies have received Tk 80 billion for exploration since 2010, and Tk 68.32 billion of the amount was allocated in 2020–2023 for exploration in 50 wells. But the exploratory work was inadequate and was mostly related to the maintenance of old wells. The work, overall, included only five new wells. With production by international oil companies having been static, on an average, at 1,100mmcfd for five years, the government leaned towards liquefied natural gas imports from the spot market. Data show that the authorities spent an estimated Tk 407.52 billion on liquefied natural gas imports in the 2025 financial year, pushing up the overall amount to about Tk 2,000 billion since the 2019 financial year.
The government may tie some loose ends to improve supply in the short run, but it should take long-run measures, with increased efficiency and further investment, for a lasting solution to gas production problems.
