Syed Shukur Ali Shuvo, BSS
Bangladesh incurs a loss of 10 percent in natural gas transmission system, a volume which is over 33 percent higher than that of the international standard, energy regulatory commission said here today.
“Currently the gas system loss is 10 percent in the country,” Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) Jalal Ahmed told BSS.
According to international standards, the maximum acceptable gas loss in distribution lines is 0.20 to 0.30 percent.
“We must reduce the volume loss by any means in the six gas distribution companies . . . we are working to bring it to a tolerable stage,” Ahmed said.
Experts and analysts previously attributed most part of the loss to theft, tempering and leakages while the BERC chief said the phenomenon exposed the government to huge revenue loss.
State-run Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Plc managing director Shahnewaz Parvez admitted they incurred a loss of 10.6 in gas distribution system last month.
The regulatory agency chief said that the system loss consumed 1369 million cubic meters of gas during the last six months.
Domestic and foreign exploration companies supply gas to six distribution companies through transmission lines, which subsequently reach it to consumers through distribution lines.
Experts suggested that reducing gas wastage could alleviate the pressure on LNG imports amid the ongoing dollar crisis.
Independent energy expert and former state-run Gas Transmission Company Ltd (GTCL) director Saleq Sufi said the distribution companies were mainly responsible for the loss, because they have scopes for doing malpractices.
A Petrobangla official on condition of anonymity said the overall system loss from July to December last year was 13.5 percent, a volume which was five percent higher compared to the correspondent period of the previous year.
The system loss is 2023-24 fiscal was 8.43 percent.
An expert, who previously worked with a distribution company, said on an average around 300 mmcfd of gas was currently being stolen or misused, out of the 2,700 million cubic feet of gas supplied daily.
He said Titas and Bakhrabad Gas Distribution Company were top ones to incur the so-called system loss due to a vested quarter’s interest.
The Petrobangla officials said the country’s gas production including LNG 2858.0 mmcfd on Monday.
According Petrobangla the government approved import of 1,700 million cubic meters (19 cargoes) of LNG from the spot market in the last 6 months, July-December.
The six-state-run distribution companies are: Titas Gas, Bakhrabad Gas Distribution Company Ltd, Jalalabad Gas Transmission and Distribution Company Ltd, Paschimanchal (West Zone) Gas Company Ltd, Karnaphuli Gas Distribution Company Ltd and Sundarban Gas Company Ltd.
Experts and consumers have long been saying that gas theft, being continued in the name of system loss was increasing day by day.
Titas Gas, however, launched a campaign to disconnect illegal lines and exposed illegal users to justice.
Titas’s managing director Parvez said they were preparing a roadmap to reduce the system loss by 5 to 7 percent every month.
Experts, however, said a small part of system losses are caused by leakage of pipeline and the tender process is underway to repair pipeline.
But meter tampering was bigger issue for the loss at various places, they said.
