Petrobangla Chairman Hossain Mansur on Sunday told a parliamentary watchdog that the state-owned oil, gas and mineral corporation had no control over gas distribution activities and that the decisions in this regard were made by the prime minister’s energy adviser.
Hossain made these claims at a meeting of the parliamentary committee on public undertaking, when he was asked why Petrobangla could not supply adequate gas to the Chittagong Urea Fertiliser Ltd factory.
The state-owned Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation (BCIC), which manages the factory, blamed the Karnaphuli Gas Distribution Company Ltd for not providing gas at the pressure required for the production of urea fertiliser, an essential farm input.
The factory, located at Rangadia in Anwara upazila, has been closed for the last six months because of poor gas supply. This has caused financial loss to the state, Khan Tipu Sultan, a committee member, said after the meeting at the parliament building.
“I have no authority to decide the distribution of gas, it is decided by the PM’s adviser,” Sultan quoted the Petrobangla chief as saying at the meeting chaired by ABM Ghulam Mustafa.
Tawfiq Elahi Chowdhury, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s energy adviser, looks after power and energy issues at her office.
Sultan said unless the necessary flow of gas was ensured, the factory would incur huge losses, which would affect the national economy.
“Closure of the factory causes a couple of problems. First, the costly equipment depreciates. Second, the government has to import urea using hard-earned foreign currency,” he said.
The parliamentary watchdog recommended that the authorities guarantee gas supply to the factory at the required pressure of 100psgi (pounds per square inch gage).
The BCIC officials told the meeting that its secretary, AHM Monirul Islam Khan, on January 16 wrote to the industries secretary, asking for necessary steps to be taken for the smooth supply of gas at 100psgi. On January 15, the authorities had to shut down the factory as the gas supply came down to 62psgi.
But the gas supply is yet to be ensured, the officials said.
According to a working BCIC paper presented at the meeting, the factory’s 25-year-old equipment could break down with the frequent fluctuation in gas pressure.