17 IOCs show interest in exploring deep sea resources

Nasrul Hamid state minister for power and energy

Sangsad Bhaban, May 7 - Different public and private (including Indian companies) power generation companies are owed Tk 33,108.99 crore by the Bangladesh Power Development Board (PDB), which acts as the single-payer for electricity produced for the national grid.

State Minister for Power Nasrul Hamid on Tuesday disclosed this in parliament in response to a question from ruling Awami League MP Mamunur Rashid from Noakhali-3.

The state minister said that the Power Development Board buys electricity from government, private, joint venture companies, and passes it to distribution companies.

He said that different government power generation and transmission companies will get Tk 10,391.43 crore from Power Development Board till February.

The private power generation companies will get around Tk 15,000 crore till February from the Power Development Board.

At the same time, the power generation plants set up in joint ventures will get Tk 2,417 crore from PDB.

The state minister also said different companies including Adani will get Tk 5,297 crore from PDB for importing electricity from India.

In response to a question from Independent MP Abdullah Nahid Nigar, the state minister said that currently the power generation capacity is more than the demand for electricity in the country.

Although there is no shortage of power generation capacity according to demand, after the Covid-19 pandemic, due to the Ukraine-Russia war and the global energy crisis, power generation is not possible at full capacity.

“As a result, there is temporary difficulty in uninterrupted power supply in some places. In addition, the demand for electricity has increased due to extreme heat in some parts of the country,” he said. 

The state minister hoped that the government would soon be able to provide uninterrupted and quality electricity to everyone.

In response to the question of AL MP Ahmed Hossain, the state minister said that a tender has already been made for the extraction of mineral resources in the deep sea.

The state minister said 17 International Oil Companies including US oil majors ExxonMobil and Chevron have expressed interest. They took the results of two-dimension survey. There was a pre-bid meeting with them on Tuesday. 

“The bidding process will end next September. Companies can be appointed by the middle of next month and if there is oil and gas, the extraction can start after 7-8 years.” - UNB