Energy Resource of Bangladesh

Introduction

Energy resources are all forms of fuels used in the modern world, either for heating, generation of electrical energy, or for other forms of energy conversion processes. Bangladesh is a mid-income country. Her GDP growth rate is one of the world’s largest.

For any country, development is the precondition for continued growth of GDP. And the main driving force of the country's development is energy. Proper use of energy is essential to meet the country's growing energy demands as well as to lift up from a mid-income country to a developed country.


In Bangladesh, about 62 percent of energy demand is met from natural gas. Among other fuels- oil, coal, biomass etc. are vital. There is a huge reserve of coal in our country, but coal is less produced as well as less used here. On the other hand, natural gas reserve is not that substantial, but its production and consumption are the highest among the available resources. Besides those, energy demand is being met through imported oil and LPG. Moreover, the government has already started importing LNG to meet increasing gas demand. Biomass is being used as a lion’s share of energy. The energy demand is also being met by importing electricity from India.

Current Position of Energy Resources

 Known energy resources in Bangladesh includes:

-natural gas

-coal

-imported oil

-liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG)

-imported Liquefied natural gas (LNG)

Agricultural residues and animal dung contribute a substantial portion of biomass fuel in Bangladesh. Power is also generated by Solar Home System & other renewable energies like hydro-power, wind Energy, wave, tidal energy etc.


Natural Gas

Bangladesh Oil, Gas, and Mineral Corporation, short named Petrobangla, under the Energy and Mineral Resources Division of the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources is entrusted with the responsibility of exploration of oil and gas, and production, transmission and marketing of natural gas in the country. 

Natural Gas Field Bangladesh

Bangladesh is the nineteenth-largest producer of natural gas in Asia. Gas supplies meet 56% of domestic energy demand.

However, the country faces an acute energy crisis in meeting the demands of its vast and growing population.

Since first discovery in 1955 as of today 26 gas fields, 24 in the onshore and 2 in the offshore have been discovered in the country. Of them 20 gas fields are in production, one offshore gas field have depilated after 14 years of production while other offshore field has not been viable for production due to small reserve.

Geologists believe the country's maritime exclusive economic zone holds one of the largest oil and gas reserves in the Asia-Pacific.

 

Petroleum (oil energy)

Petroleum products like diesel, petrol, octane furnace oil etc, account for about 20 % commercial energy supply in the country. Liquid fuel used in Bangladesh is mostly imported.

Locally produced gas condensate shares only 6% of total liquid fuel consumption. Bangladesh imports about 1.26 million metric tons of crude oil along with 4.04 million metric tons of refined petroleum products per annum. Major consumer of liquid fuel is transport followed by power, agriculture, industry and commercial sectors

 

Petroleum (oil energy) of Bangladesh
Sector-wise consumption of petroleum products is: transport-62.89 %, power 6.84 %, agriculture 19.51 %, industry6.48 %, domestic 3.02 % and others 1.26 %.

Coal

Coal is a readily combustible sedimentary rock composed essentially of lithified plant materials, with small amount of inorganic matter present in the form of mineral.

Coal - Energy Resource of Bangladesh

Considering the uncertainty of sustainable supply of primary energy, it is necessary to diversify the primary energy sources in the country. In that case, domestic coal can be a major alternative energy source for the energy security of the country.

At present 2.55 % of electricity has been produced from domestic coal.

5 coal fields so far discovered, namely Barapukuria, Khalaspir, Phulbari, Jamalganj and Dighipara. If initiatives are taken for exploration all over the country, there are enough possibilities to discover more coal mines.

 

Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG)

Demand of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) in Bangladesh is very high.

In the public sector 13,414 MT is produced during 2019-20. Whereas 835,027 MT is imported through private entity. Therefore, public and private sector combining do the marketing of 848,441 MT of LPG in 2019-20, which is meeting a certain portion of LPG demand of the country. 

LPG - Energy Resource of Bangladesh

Considering the rising demand for LPG, government has decided to enhance LPG bottling facilities for marketing more imported LPG. For this purpose, two LPG bottling plants, each having capacity of 100 thousand MT per annum, will be set up in the coastal area.

 

Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG)

Some of the gas fields located in north - eastern part of Bangladesh contains high percentage of liquid hydrocarbon. Extraction of this liquid, especially value added by-products, is becoming a growing activity. Apart from the condensate fractionation plant installed in different gas fields, Rashidpur Condensate Fractionation Plant with a capacity of 3,700 bbl./day is producing petrol, diesel and kerosene by fractioning the condensate received from Bibiyana Gas Field.

LNG - Energy Resource of Bangladesh

Renewable Energy Resources

Renewable energy resources could assist in the energy security of Bangladesh and could help reduce the natural gas demand. Regions of the country without supply or access to natural gas or the electric grid use biomass for cooking and solar power and wind for drying different grains and clothes.

Biomass is currently the largest renewable energy resource in use due to its extensive noncommercial use, mainly for cooking and heating. Biomass comprises 27 percent of the total primary energy use in Bangladesh.

The country has a huge potential for generating solar power. Moreover, the use of renewable energy has become popular worldwide in view of the depleting reserves of non-renewable fossil fuels.

Renewable energy is environmentally friendly.

 

Traditional Biomass fuels

In Bangladesh, three major types of biomass fuel resources are in use: wood fuels, agricultural residues and animal dung. Wood fuels are obtained from different types of forests and tree resources grown in rural areas. Agricultural residues and animal dung contribute a substantial portion of biomass fuel in Bangladesh. 

Traditional Biomass fuels - Energy Resource of Bangladesh

A part of the total agricultural residues available during harvesting of crops and a part of total animal dung produced by animal re-sources are used as fuel. Availability of these resources as fuel depends on local situation and socio-economic condition of the owners.

 

Hydro-power Energy

Hydroelectricity is a renewable source of energy where water is used to transform water head into kinetic energy in which water flow helps the turbine propeller to rotate.

 

Hydro-power Energy - Energy Resource of Bangladesh

Being a riverine country, Bangladesh has enormous advantage for hydro electricity generation. Micro hydro-power can be produced from this vast amount of river currents and sources of low head of water falls.

 

Solar Energy

Bangladesh is geographically located in a favorable position for harnessing sunlight, available abundantly for most of the year except for the three months June-August when it rains excessively.

Solar Home System (SHS) provides reliable power for lighting and operating low powered appliances such as radio, television, small electric fans. The electricity provided by a SHS can also be used to run Direct Current (DC) driven equipment such as DC shouldering irons, drilling machines etc. and to charge the battery of mobile phones. Larger systems can run computers, refrigerators, pumps etc.

 

Wind Energy

Bangladesh is exploring the potential of wind power. In the coastal area of Bangladesh, windmills with a capacity of 2.9 MW are in operation. Bangladesh has had to wait for a breakthrough in wind power technology to be competitive against other conventional commercial energy sources. A pilot project to install windmills along the seashore with a capacity of 20 MW has been planned by the government.

 

Tidal Energy

The tides at Chittagong, south east of Bangladesh are predominantly semidiurnal with a large variation in range corresponding to the seasons, the maximum occurring during the south-west monsoon. A strong diurnal influence on the tides results in the day time tides being smaller than the night time. This could be future energy source of Bangladesh.

 

Wave Energy

Until to now no attempt has been made by Government of Bangladesh to assess the prospects for harnessing energy from sea waves in the Bay of Bengal. Wave power could be a significant alternative source of energy in Bangladesh with favorable wave conditions especially during the period beginning from late March to early October. Waves are generally prominent and show a distinct relation with the wind.

 

Nuclear Power

Nuclear power is characterized by very large up-front investments, technical complexity, and significant technical, market and regulatory risks, but have very low operating costs and can deliver large amount of based load electricity while producing almost no CO2 emissions. Typical construction times are between five and eight years from first concrete poured. Government of Bangladesh has signed a general contract with Russia on December 25, 2015 for the construction and commissioning of the country’s first nuclear power plant at Rooppur in Pabna.

Bangladesh's first nuclear power plant at Rooppur in Pabna

Unit

Capacity

Construction start

Commercial Operation

Rooppur 1

1200 MW

Oct 2017

2023 or 2024

Rooppur 2

1200 MW

2018

2024 or 2025

 

Energy Crisis in Bangladesh

The present energy crisis in Bangladesh is partly due to over-dependence on gas which fulfils more than 70 per cent of its energy needs.

The crisis will deepen unless a greater share of indigenous coal is included in the energy mix.

In the absence of other immediate energy options, the potential of the country to address its energy problem lies in full-scale gas exploration and coal exploitation programmers, both of which are yet to mature.

Bangladesh should also look for energy cooperation with its neighbors for energy trade and energy infrastructure development.

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