Bangladesh has proposed importing natural gas from neighbouring Myanmar through a pipeline to help reduce the country’s growing energy shortfall, while Myanmar has expressed a positive stance on gas exports to Bangladesh and proposed supplying liquefied natural gas (LNG). The two sides decided in Dhaka on Sunday to hold a ministerial-level meeting soon to examine the feasibility of both proposals.
The proposal was discussed during talks on energy cooperation at the Energy Ministry in Dhaka with a Myanmar delegation. According to relevant sources, Myanmar Ambassador to Bangladesh Kyaw Soe Moe said his country was positive about exporting gas to Bangladesh.
The Myanmar delegation also included Commercial Counsellor Myat Lwin. Bangladesh was represented at the meeting by Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Adviser Iqbal Hasan Mahmud, State Minister Anindya Islam Amit, Energy Secretary Muhammad Saiful Islam and Power Secretary Mirana Mahrukh.
Sources said Iqbal Hasan Mahmud told the Myanmar delegation that Bangladesh had significant demand for natural gas and was especially interested in sourcing fuel from Myanmar through a pipeline to meet that demand. Bangladesh will invite Myanmar to a ministerial-level meeting on the issue.
An official present at the meeting said Bangladesh proposed pipeline gas imports, while Myanmar responded with a proposal to export LNG.
The two sides decided to hold a ministerial meeting soon to assess the feasibility of both options. Discussions also covered the development of long-term trade relations between Bangladesh and Myanmar and the expansion of energy cooperation. Ambassador Kyaw Soe Moe said the matter could also be reviewed through a meeting of the Bangladesh-Myanmar Joint Technical Committee.
Although Myanmar is a gas-exporting country, Bangladesh imports one-third of its gas demand from the Middle East and other distant countries. Even after imports, the country still faces a daily shortfall of one-quarter of its gas demand.
According to the Energy Division, Bangladesh’s daily gas demand stands at 3.80 billion cubic feet, against supply of 2.70 to 2.80 billion cubic feet. That supply includes 800 million to 1 billion cubic feet of imported gas regasified through two floating LNG terminals in the Bay of Bengal.
A severe gas crisis has spread across Bangladesh after one LNG terminal was recently shut down following a fire. The shortage has disrupted industrial production and power generation. CNG-run auto-rickshaws, cars, buses and other vehicles have been waiting in long queues for hours at CNG filling stations, while households have been suffering as pipeline gas stoves remain unusable for most of the day.
Bangladesh has already started talks with Malaysia to meet rising gas demand. The plan under consideration involves importing LNG from Malaysia on small cargo vessels and transporting it through inland waterways to industrial zones facing the worst supply problems.
Sources said the energy adviser also referred at the meeting to Prime Minister Tarique Rahman’s recent visit to China. He said a China-Myanmar-Bangladesh corridor had been proposed and that a pipeline between Bangladesh and Myanmar could play a supportive role in that regard.
Myanmar, despite ongoing conflict and civil war, is one of Asia’s major natural gas exporters. The country currently exports gas worth $2 billion to Thailand and China. Natural gas is Myanmar’s second-largest export product after readymade garments.
A report by Singapore-based Business Times said four gas fields have so far been discovered offshore Myanmar. Gas from three of them is exported to Thailand through subsea routes. Gas from another field discovered in the Bay of Bengal near Rakhine State, adjacent to Bangladesh, is exported overland to China.