The fate of the Hydrocarbon Unit under the Energy and Mineral Resources Division remains uncertain, after the final phase of the project that initiated the formation of the unit ended last December.
The government is yet to decide on the future of the unit, which acts as a think-tank under the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources, causing frustration among its staff.
“We are now hanging as the second phase of a project of the unit expired on December 2013,” Director General of Hydrocarbon Unit Mohammad Osman Amin told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.
“The unit officials and employees are not getting their salaries as the project has been transferred to the revenue sector. We need to appoint new hands to keep the unit alive,” he said.
“On May 28, 2008, the government introduced an organogram to give the unit a permanent shape. On July 22, 2013, the Energy Division introduced the rules of recruitment for the unit,” Osman said.
In accordance with the organogram, 26 people, in ten posts of first-class to third-class employees, were supposed to be recruited, while the fourth-class employees were to be hired through outsourcing.
“But the energy division is yet to take any step in this regard. We are frustrated over that… We do not even have a permanent office. The temporary office is not sufficient,” the DG of the unit said.
“If the unit can act like the Power Cell under the Power Division, it will help in the hydrocarbon sector’s development and in decision making,” Ijaz Hossain, a professor of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology told the Dhaka Tribune.
“This unit should not be neglected and workforce should be recruited fast to give this a permanent shape,” he said.
State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid said: “We are thinking of reshuffling the unit. We will activate it as soon as possible.”
The Hydrocarbon Unit was established in July 1999 in the form of a project titled “Strengthening of the Hydrocarbon Unit in the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources,” under grant financing from the Norwegian Government.
An institutional co-operational contract was also signed between Norwegian Petroleum Directorate and the Hydrocarbon Unit.
The work of first phase continued until March 2006, and the second phase started on April 2006 and continued until December 2013.
The unit’s responsibilities included assessing undiscovered resource at regular intervals, managing data on oil and gas sector, observing production sharing contract (PSC) activities, analysing internal and regional gas market, formulating exploration and depletion policy, establishing contact forums for the private sector and working as the technical arm of the ministry.
As the technical arm to the Energy and Mineral Resources Division, the Hydrocarbon Unit provided necessary opinion, analyses and information on issues like PSC, gas demand and supply, gas field development, pricing, future planning, legal issues, energy policy and privatisation.
The unit institutionalised the resource and reserve estimation process in the country by developing a group of expert professionals who are now capable of doing the job on their own.
A mini data bank of the unit, which contains gas production reserve and resource database, was being used to generate monthly reports.