China has supported a Bangladesh initiative to import gas from the Shwe gas field in Rakhine state of Myanmar to meet the growing demand in the country.
“The issue has been discussed during the visit of the prime minister [Sheikh Hasina] to China and Beijing has extended its support,” a senior official of the Foreign Ministry told the Dhaka Tribune.
A consortium of China, India, Myanmar and Daewoo of South Korea has developed the gas field and about 800-km long pipeline was installed to supply gas from Rakhine state to Kunming in China in 2013.
Dhaka is now preparing to negotiate with other stakeholders like Myanmar, India and Daewoo for importing gas, the official said.
Energy adviser to the prime minister Towfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury and Foreign Secretary Md Shahidul Haque had a meeting on the issue at the PMO recently.
At present, Bangladesh has the capacity to generate over 2,300 mmcf per day while its demand ranges between 2,700 mmcf to 2,800 mmcf per day, leaving a gas shortage of about 500 mmcfd.
When contacted, Bangladesh Ambassador to Myanmar Anup Kumar Chakma said a foreign secretary level meeting between the two countries will be held in the last week of August and the issue might be discussed.
“Building a gas pipeline is very capital intensive project and takes long-term planning,” he said.
After the maritime boundary verdict by ITLOS in 2012, Myanmar has awarded several blocks to international oil companies and if gas is discovered, they need to export it and Bangladesh is a good market for that, Chakma said.
“We must start constructive negotiation right now as it will take a long time to reach a conclusion,” he said.
About 10 years back, there was an initiative to channel gas from Myanmar to India through Bangladesh under a tri-nation pipeline, but it was not materialised as Dhaka did not agree on it, he added.
“Had Bangladesh agreed, we would have been getting gas now from Myanmar,” Chakma said.
In the deal, Bangladesh would have received a certain amount of gas if it agreed to allow gas supply through its territory.
Failing to export gas to India through Bangladesh, the consortium had taken initiative to export gas to China and subsequently struck a deal in 2008.
The Shwe natural gas field is located in the Andaman Sea and it was discovered in 2004 and developed by Daewoo.
It started production in 2013 and produces natural gas and condensates and exports to China through the pipeline.
The total proven reserves of the Shwe gas field are around 9.1 trillion cubic feet and production is slated to be around 700 million cubic feet per day.
Bangladesh extracted about 11 trillion cubic feet of gas in the last 60 years with total reserve of 27 tcf and it has now 16 tcf left to be depleted in the next 15 to 20 years.
