LNG MARKETING IN SEVEN SISTER STATES
Dhaka unhappyover Delhi stance
Special correspondent
India has showed reluctance to accept a proposal for allowing Bangladesh companies to do marketing of LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) in its Seven Sister states, causing disappointment in Dhaka.
State Minister for Power and Energy Nasrul Hamid recently told the independent, India will have a LPG plant in Chittagong in 2017 or 2018 to supply cooking gas to these states. We had proposed to them that Bangladeshi companies be allowed to do the LPG marketing business in these Indian states. But the proposal was not positively responded by Indian officials
They said, in Indian states the LPG users get subsidies (from the government), so none but the Indian government companies can do the business, the state minister added.
Talking to The Independent, an energy ministry
official said, The lukewarm Indian response over the proposal has disappointed us as we are allowing billions of dollars of investment scopes here for India, but they are not giving us the minimum space to do business in their country.
A high-level Bangladesh team, headed by the minister, visited Delhi last week and they held meetings with the State Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan and State minister for Power, Coal, New and Renewable Energy and Mines Piyush Goyal to discussion various power and energy related projects .
One of the team members said the issues of discussions were all concerning business scopes and India will invest billions of dollars in Bangladesh to do business here.
This is good for the economy, but India should allow us to do the LPG distribution business there as it is very insignificant compared to the volume of business India will be doing in Bangladesh, he said.
State Minister Nasrul Hamid discussed issues
including sale of diesel to Bangladesh from India through a pipeline, a LPG plant to be set up by Indian oil company limited-IOCL in Chittagong, Reliance LNG terminal at Moheskhali, import of 500MW more power, 1200MW power purchase from Indian company Adany group and natural gas import.
Regarding the meeting, Nasrul Hamid said, We have proposed them to open their electricity market for Bangladesh which could make it cheaper for us to
import power from India. While they responded positively to this, they said that it could take some time to consider the issue
They explained that they have to change the policy to open up the market for Bangladesh, he added.
Currently Bangladesh imports 600MW of power from India.
During the Delhi visit, the Bangladesh team claimed the wheeling charge for transmission of gas to Shiliguri through Bangladesh territory, he said.
Bangladesh needs huge gas to transform itself into a middle income country. So, we want Indian help to join the TurkmenistanAfghanistanPakistanIndia Pipeline (TAPI). Our Indian colleagues assured us that they will raise the issue on the next TAPI meeting, the state minister said.
Trans-Afghanistan Pipeline is a natural gas pipeline being developed by the Asian Development Bank. The pipeline will transport Caspian Sea natural gas from Turkmenistan through Afghanistan into Pakistan and then to India. Construction on the project started in Turkmenistan on 13 December 2015. The pipeline is expected to be operational by 2019.
Bangladesh believes the TAPI gas would be cheaper than any other imported options.
During the past few years, Dhaka has gotten engaged with India in power and energy sector projects in a massive scale.
Dhaka is not only importing 600MW of power, it has also agreed to buy 2000MW of power from Reliance and Adani group. Reliance has also proposed to sell LNG to Bangladesh in 2018.
Energy experts said Bangladesh is an energy hungry country and India is investing there to meet the demand. But Bangladeshi businessmen should also get some opportunity to do business in India.
While it is not possible to reach a balance of business or balance of trade with India, there should be some win-win situations for Bangladesh too, they said.
