Ever since the fire on Exelerate, one of the two floating storage and regassification units (FSRUs) on July 21, the disruption in gas supply has become acuter. Gas supply to both households and industries in wide areas has ceased to be. The supply has dropped to 2.03 billion cubic feet against a demand for 3.85 billion cubic feet, leaving a shortfall of about 1.77 billion cubic feet. Not only has the severe gas crisis led to reduced generation of power but also forced factories and industries to close down.
It is exactly amid this critical energy situation, the government has moved, rather surprisingly, to handover segments of its power and energy to private hands--- which the National Citizen Party (NCP) calls "mafia business groups". Indeed, a major decision such as handing over the responsibility of importing and pricing of diesel, petrol and octane to private conglomerates with suspect reputation, when rushed through, smacks of ulterior motives akin to the Awami League government's quick rental power plant and capacity charge deals with favoured business syndicates. The chairman of the Bangladesh Petroleium Corporation (BPC), who objected to the move, was removed. Also the international fuel tendering period was shortened to just 10 days from the standard 42 days.
The government should refrain from such deals with business groups allowing them to import, distribute and fix prices. Quite rightly, the NCP has tendered their opposition to the move, alleging that it will transfer "control of the country's petroleum trade to a controversial group accused of loan fraud, bank looting and money laundering, bypassing legal requirements and state regulations".
It is a strategic sector and handing over its control to business groups with no clean records exposes the public to price manipulation of energy. In a broader sense, energy is integrally linked to national security and that security will be compromised if the deal takes effect. Bangladesh is at a crossroads on account of the lingering energy crisis made corrosively pervasive by the Middle East war and the country's near total dependence on import of fuel from that region. The current crisis now threatening industrial production and generation of electricity has blatantly exposed the vulnerability of the country to such dependence on import of fuel.
Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Iqbal Hassan Mahmood claimed at a discussion organised by the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) last week that the energy crisis would ease soon following the second phase of repair of the Excelerate FSRU terminal. He also warned that the crisis would deepen further when a 72-hour complete shutdown would be required for boiler maintenance of the damaged FSRU. The minister also disclosed the government's plan to add three more FSRUs to the existing two by 2029.
That is a long way off. The immediate concern is to restore the gas supply to the present capacity. So the emphasis ought to be on completing the repair of the damaged FSRU. Already closure of factories and industries has its toll on the country's economy. People's normal life has also been severely disrupted. The government should get its priority right to meet the crisis.
It does not imply that energy sovereignty should be handed over to or shared with business groups with no clean records. They are more likely to take advantage of such situations instead of helping the government to tide over the crisis. So far as a long-term goal is concerned, the government should set its sight on gradually coming out of overdependence on imported energy. Better it would be to develop an energy roadmap under which along with exploration of offshore and onshore gas, alternative clean and renewable energy production will be prioritised.
The BPC has been a most lucrative and profitable state-run organisation and it should, therefore, discourage any involvement of private business sharks in areas of energy import and distribution. Under the circumstances, privatisation of this important and sensitive sector is unwanted and irrational.
