American company Chevron Bangladesh has halted development activities due to non-payment of bills. Concerned parties fear a collapse in gas production.

The company has been supplying about 60 percent of domestic gas. The project to install a compressor in the Jalalabad gas field has been stalled due to outstanding issues. Petrobangla expects that the daily gas production will increase by about 70 million cubic feet if the compressor is installed.

The company's outstanding bill has exceeded 160 million dollars which is equal to their 4-month bill. The company is supplying gas worth 40 million dollars every month. The outstanding bills have not only been due during the interim government, but also since the previous government, and the development project has been stalled due to non-payment of gas bills on time. Despite buying tenders in the deep sea, it has refrained from submitting at the last minute.

The Jalalabad compressor project was planned to start in early 2024. The project has been in operation for 2 years after the project work began. The plan was to supply gas in 2026. But work has not started yet.

Sources said that Bangladesh announced a roadmap in October to pay the arrears. In that letter, it promised to pay 20 million arrears every month along with the running bill. After that letter, the promised amount was released only in November. After that, the arrears continued to increase as before.

Development activities are being hampered due to the gas bill arrears, and Chevron sent a letter on January 9 to pay at least 75 million dollars as soon as possible. The letter, signed by the company's Managing Director and President Eric M. Walker, sought the Secretary's intervention to pay the arrears. Even then, the situation has not improved much. The arrears were 150 million dollars at that time, but have crossed 160 million dollars this month.

When asked about the amount of outstanding dues, Chevron Bangladesh Manager (Media and Communication) Sheikh Zahidur Rahman told Barta24.com that he cannot comment on financial issues due to the company's policy.

Are development activities being disrupted? In response to the question, Sheikh Zahidur Rahman said that the work of a project planned to increase gas production at the Jalalabad Gas Plant has been suspended until the outstanding dues are settled.

He said that the speedy payment of outstanding dues will increase confidence in further investment and increasing gas supply in Bangladesh. We are hopeful that the situation will improve soon.

The multinational company Chevron Bangladesh's outstanding dues have been discussed for a long time. Bangladesh has occasionally waived some money. Still, the company's gas bills for several months are outstanding. Last December, Chevron International Exploration and Production Vice President Frank Casullo visited Bangladesh. During that visit, he met with Chief Adviser Dr. Muhammad Yunus in Dhaka. Sources said that the issue of arrears was also discussed in that meeting.

Chevron is one of the world's leading integrated energy companies. The company has been extracting gas in the Block-12, 13 and 14 areas of Bangladesh. It is supplying about 60 percent of the domestic natural gas production and 83 percent of the condensate production. The largest of these is the Bibiana gas field. It supplied 954.1 million cubic meters of gas on March 17. At one time, the gas field produced over 1,300 million cubic meters, but production has decreased due to declining reserves.

At one time, domestic gas fields produced about 2,800 million cubic meters of gas daily, but only 1,883 million cubic feet of gas was found on March 17. Production is constantly decreasing due to declining reserves. The daily demand of authorized gas customers is about 5.5 million cubic feet. Against which, about 2.8 million cubic feet is being supplied. Demand is increasing every day, and LNG imports were started in 2018 to meet the increasing demand. Gas is available from Chevron at 2.76 dollars, while the cost of importing the same amount of gas is around 10.50 dollars. Along with Chevron, the Qatari government has also urged Bangladesh to pay its dues. 40 cargoes of LNG are imported from Qatar annually on a G2G basis. Just as Petrobangla owes money to various organizations, Petrobangla owes more than Tk. 28,000 crore to various organizations, including the power sector. Of this, about Tk. 18,000 crore is due to the power sector. LNG suppliers from the spot markets are losing interest due to not receiving bills on time. Petrobangla sources said that suppliers are often not available despite repeated tenders.

The demand for electricity has increased by more than 1,000 MW in a single day. Information has been received that load shedding was done at different times of the day and night due to the inability to generate additional electricity.

On Thursday (March 13), the maximum demand was 14,421 MW at 7 pm on a working day. And on Saturday (March 15), a public holiday, the demand was 15,376 MW at 9 pm. In mid-March 2024 (March 15, 2024), the demand was 12,774 MW. That is, the demand is much higher than in previous years.

According to Power Grid Company Bangladesh (PGCB) data, the maximum demand for electricity was 15,376 MW at 9 pm on Saturday (March 15), and 15,336 MW of electricity was generated at that time. 40 MW of load shedding had to be done during the Tarawih prayers. The highest load shedding that day was 73 MW at 7 pm. Against the demand of 15,121 MW in the evening peak, 15,045 MW was produced. The load shedding was 70 MW at 3 pm on Saturday.

The first two weeks of Ramadan were a bit cold. The fans and ACs were operated without them at night. On March 15, the temperature suddenly went up. On Saturday, around 3 pm, a temperature of 36.8 degrees Celsius was recorded in Rajshahi. This is the highest temperature of the current season. And the demand for electricity immediately increased.

Power Development Board sources claimed that it was not possible to generate electricity as per the demand due to non-availability of gas as promised. 1200 million cubic feet of gas was supposed to be supplied daily during the month of Ramadan. But only 986 million cubic feet were received on Saturday.

According to the daily production report of Petrobangla, the demand for gas for electricity generation on March 15 was 2410 million cubic feet. Against which 986 million cubic feet were supplied. According to the Power Development Board, 12 power plants were shut down due to gas shortage, and 2 were shut down due to low pressure problems.

An inter-ministerial meeting was held on February 5 regarding power and energy supply during Ramadan and irrigation season. After that meeting, Adviser on Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Dr. Fawzul Kabir Khan said that a plan has been taken to keep load shedding free during Ramadan, but 700 to 1400 MW load shedding may have to be done during the summer season.

He said that 900 million cubic feet of gas is currently being supplied for power generation. 1200 million cubic feet will be supplied for the month of Ramadan and 1100 million cubic feet of gas will be supplied from April to September. This will increase power generation.

He said that the power demand during the summer and irrigation season has been estimated at 18 thousand MW. Of this, cooling (AC) load is 6 thousand MW. If we can keep the AC temperature at 25 or 26 degrees, then the demand for electricity will decrease by 2 to 3 thousand MW. Then there will be no need for load shedding.

There has been a mixed reaction to the energy adviser's statement on the temperature of the AC. Some have claimed that if the AC is kept at a temperature of 25 degrees, it starts giving hot air. The adviser's statement is not scientifically sound.

Currently, the electricity generation capacity is 26,609 MW. Of this, gas-based power plants have 12,130 MW, coal-based 6,951 MW, furnace oil 5,503 MW, diesel 286 MW and imported 1,160 MW. The record for the highest electricity generation is 16,435 MW on May 1, 2024. Although 18,000 MW of electricity has been promised this time, questions remain about how much the transmission and distribution system is capable of receiving

Dhaka: The price of 12 kg LPG has been reduced by Tk. 28 to Tk. 1,450. On the other hand, the Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) has reduced autogas by Tk. 1.31 per liter to Tk. 66.43.

BERC Chairman Jalal Ahmed announced the new price at a press conference on Tuesday (March 3). Members Syeda Sultana Razia, Md. Mizanur Rahman, Md. Abdur Razzak and others were present at the time. The new price will be effective from 6 pm and will remain in effect until further notice.

LP gas prices have decreased due to the decrease in international prices of imported LPG. LP gas prices were adjusted in two phases in January. First, after January 2, the price was increased again to Tk. 1,459 due to the increase in VAT. And in February, it was increased by Tk. 19 to Tk. 1,478.

Although the price of the product fell in the international market in January, BERC initially kept the price unchanged due to the appreciation of the dollar. Compared to December, the average price of propane and butane fell by 13.33 dollars per ton. Accordingly, the price was expected to decrease.

The first price of import-based LPG was announced on April 12, 2021. The order said that the base price would fluctuate if the Saudi price fluctuated. Other commissions would remain unchanged. BERC has been announcing the price of LPG every month since the announcement. However, there are allegations that LP gas is never available in the market at the price determined by BERC.

Eastern Bank PLC has always been committed to following legal and ethical principles to protect its reputation and dignity. The bank made this claim in an urgent press briefing in the wake of the news published regarding the case filed by customer Murtaza Ali.

With ulterior motive the customer Murtaza Ali has filed a case against the members of the bank's board of directors and management committee with the intention of intentionally tarnishing the bank's reputation and hiding its involvement in the 2017 incident. EBL believes that this appears to be an attempt to create unethical pressure on the bank.

EBL said that Murtaza Ali is a depositor of EBL and took a loan against the deposit in July 2017. In view of the loan application, the bank authorities approved the loan after obtaining Murtaza Ali's signature on the collateral and all other supporting documents and following all the rules and regulations.

The loan approval letter is sent to the customer's address by registered post as usual. It is worth mentioning here that Murtaza Ali admitted to the loan application. During the loan period, Murtaza Ali was given notices from the Eastern Bank branch office on his registered email and mobile via SMS for the payment of monthly installments of the loan at various times. He never contacted the bank regarding the said notice.

As a result, as the loan installments became irregular, the bank authorities paid the loans by cashing the customer's fixed deposit on August 19, 2020 and issued a discharge certificate in favor of the customer, which was sent to the customer's registered address by registered post and accepted with acknowledgement of receipt. After cashing the deposit and paying the loan, the remaining deposit was deposited in his bank account.

On May 28, 2019, Murtaza Ali sent a letter to the EBL Chandgaon branch. In this letter, the customer admitted to taking a loan from EBL against his fixed deposit. After receiving the letter on 28 May 2019, the branch manager replied to the customer's registered email on 3 June 2019 and 9 June 2019 (in two installments). Later, on 10 June 2019, the head of the human resources department of EBL also replied to the customer separately via email.

Despite being fully aware of the loan, Murtaza Ali later denied taking the loan and claimed that the said loans were approved and withdrawn illegally by the bank's branch officer for the purpose of embezzling money. He further claimed that apart from withdrawing the loan, some other illegal transactions were conducted from the EBL savings account without his knowledge. Later, Murtaza Ali denied sending the letter to EBL on 28 May 2019. Rather, he claimed that the letter was not issued by him and the signature on the document was not correct. He also denied taking any loan from EBL and alleged that the bank's employees fraudulently disbursed the loan without his consent.

The complainant has made his claim to the bank through letters and legal notices at various times since 2019. In response, the bank provided the appropriate amount every time. In 2019, based on Murtaza Ali's complaint, the bank's audit department conducted two investigations. The investigations did not find any evidence of irregularities related to customer account transactions and loans. It is also worth mentioning here that based on Murtaza Ali's complaint, Bangladesh Bank investigated the incident again in 2024, where all the documents were verified and no irregularities were found.

Murtaza Ali tried to pressure the bank to deny the loan he had taken by threatening various government institutions and lawsuits at different times. Since Eastern Bank PLC is a registered scheduled bank of Bangladesh Bank, there is no scope for doing anything illegal. In this situation, Murtaza Ali threatened that if his loan liability is not reduced and the money is not returned, he will file a case against the bank's directors, but since Eastern Bank did not succumb to his illegal pressure, he filed this false case in Chattogram yesterday involving the bank's board of directors and management committee to tarnish the bank's image. The learned court has not yet issued any order in this regard.

In relevance, we would like to mention that in the past year 2017, based on the complaint of money laundering from the accounts of some customers of EBL Chandgaon branch, it was found that a former officer of the bank was involved in embezzlement of money in collusion with external fraudsters. The bank immediately took strict action regarding this incident and filed a case against the guilty officer and the concerned persons. Later, the court found them guilty and imposed a financial penalty including imprisonment. Recently, the connection of Murtaza Ali with the main accused Iftekharul Kabir was found. Because evidence of money transfer from Iftekharul Kabir's bank account to Murtaza Ali's bank account was found. The bank is in the process of taking appropriate legal action in this regard. The present case has been filed almost eight years after the incident, in which the members of the Board of Directors and the Management Committee of Eastern Bank Plc. have been wrongfully implicated, although they had no involvement in the incident of 2017. According to conventional practice, the bank's board of directors and management committee members has no involvement in the daily transactions of the customer.