Member Info for Pappiklon

Thanks for the reminder Searcher, in this age of instant everything it's easy to forget that theses things take time...especially a $100bn project, you really need to get the terms right covering all bases and interests and no one wants to look back in a few years and think 'we missed that'

Extracts:

'Although Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant (RNPP) is supposed to start commercially generating electricity from next December, this is not happening.

The first unit may go for electricity generation at the end of 2025.'

'The deadline has been extended until December 2027'

'Officials at the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant said the bill could not be paid due to the dollar crisis.'

https://en.prothomalo.com/bangladesh/mens8s0lt0

And we know 7-8 years for that gas to cone online and thats if they find any. Only solution available right now is Phulbari

Good find Searcher, the article is spot on he is just trying to deflect the blame whereas the mess they are in is largely a result of his former influence, his comments were ludicrous to the point of desperation, my understanding is he is sidelined now as they have finally realised he is a liability. I was watching Narsul Hamid when Chowdury was talking at that Engineers conference and his face said it all, cringeworthy !

Bangladesh's foreign exchange reserves fell below the $19 billion-mark for the first time in 11 months.

https://www.thedailystar.net/business/news/reserves-fall-below-19-billion-first-time-11-months-3608441

Fo those that haven't noticed the GCM website seems to have recently been updated to better reflect where we are now

For those who don't know Anu Muhammad was very vocal anti Phulbari for years, in a recent interview he appeared to have changed his tune, he has a focal oped piece in the Daily Star today about the energy crisis where he states some home truths about the reality of why they are in such a mess, for once I agree with him on some points.

https://www.thedailystar.net/opinion/views/news/imf-prescription-raise-energy-prices-anti-people-illogical-3606766

These figures are from 2022 and are therefore an indication only, but adding on the $5b to this chart puts them in 3rd place, the Chineses are not stupid and know with this comes increased influence and they don't give money away for the fun of it, they will want way more than their investment back.

https://www.visualcapitalist.com/ranked-the-top-20-countries-in-debt-to-china/

From 'yahoo finance' also comes this snippet on the BRI (Belt and Roads Initiative)

The BRI covers so much more than just trade and infrastructure: it's also meant to endear the developing world to China and "[broadcast] positive messages about its overseas activities", to quote AidData.

This certainly seems to be the case for investments in Bangladesh. As China’s public perception has improved, it's ratcheted up its annual financial commitment to the nation from $994 million (£791m) at the start of the programme to nearly $3.5 billion (£3bn) by the start of this decade.

The money flowing into Bangladesh has had a beneficial impact, from helping reduce poverty to developing major infrastructure works, such as power plants and bridges. Around the same time, China overtook its neighbour India as Bangladesh's largest trading partner. It’s no surprise that goodwill toward Beijing has been on the rise.

https://www.visualcapitalist.com/ranked-the-top-20-countries-in-debt-to-china/

Agreed and if there was a royalty of $x per tonne extracted going forward it would be an added sweetener.

IF they offered £300m for the licence I doubt many shareholders would decline, maybe thats what the delay is?

Another 7-8 years even in the unlikely event it all went to plan and there is any gas found, only proven own resources to provide energy relief is Phulbari coal - 2 years to first coal.... do they really have a choice?

Nasrul Hamid in parliament: '“We have a pre-bid meeting with them tomorrow (Wednesday). The bidding process will end in September. I hope we will be able to appoint a company by mid-2025. They will conduct 3D surveys and drilling,” he said.

The government estimates up to $30 billion investments will be made in this offshore exploration. If oil or gas is found, it will be possible to extract that after another seven to eight years.'

https://bdnews24.com/business/9d9983d31c81

Prime minister Sheikh Hasina has instructed the authorities concerned to take measures to bring down load-shedding hours in rural areas.

The directives came at the weekly cabinet meeting on Monday, a day after Jatiya Party lawmakers in parliament heavily criticised the government for failing to stop power disruptions, particularly in rural areas that experienced up to 16 hours of load-shedding during the recent countrywide heatwave.

‘We have directives from the prime minister, who is also holding the portfolio of the power, energy, and mineral resources minister, for uninterrupted power supply in rural areas as soon as possible,’ state minister for power, energy, and mineral resources Nasrul Hamid told reporters at his secretariat office after the cabinet meeting held at the Prime Minister’s Office.

‘The issue has been discussed in parliament also. All, including parliament members and the prime minister herself, are generally aware of the situation,’ he added.

He, however, declined to share what was discussed about load-shedding in the cabinet meeting.

https://www.newagebd.net/post/country/234519/reduce-power-cuts-in-rural-areas-pm-tells-cabinet

When the government has decided to hike electricity price four times a year, what is the real picture? According to Prothom Alo reports, on some days there are 3,000 megawatts of power shortage, which is then bleached out through load shedding.

Then there is discrimination in case of doing this load shedding also. The rate of load shedding is higher in rural areas compared to Dhaka city. Some of the factories in Gazipur experience 10 to 12 hours of load shedding a day. It goes without saying that in this condition, the industrial production is dropping severely.

https://en.prothomalo.com/amp/story/opinion/editorial/6hlkvbhll1

Big hopes and pr, reality bites, it will take bapex 10 years at full capacity to drill the planned wells.

Petrobangla and BAPEX officials said it is necessary to extract gas immediately. Projects have been taken to drill 46 wells in three years. If BAPEX does it alone, it will take over 10 years

Not economically viable

BAPEX acting managing director Md Shoaib, speaking to Prothom Alo, said the government has a plan to construct a pipeline to take gas out of Bhola. This must have a capacity of supplying 300 million cubic feet of gas to make it commercially viable. Currently, there is a capacity of extracting 180 million cubic feet of gas from nine wells. If five new wells are drilled, the production will increase by 100 million cubic feet.

https://en.prothomalo.com/bangladesh/rhgn2tzwod

Parliament’s opposition chief whip Mujibul Haque said people in rural areas have to suffer from 8 to 12 hours of load shedding a day.

“The government says our production capacity has reached 28,000 megawatts, if so where has the electricity gone?” Mujibul Haque said while speaking at the parliament session on Sunday.

He said the people of Bangladesh are facing multifarious problems but power crises and road accidents are the two most serious ones

https://en.prothomalo.com/bangladesh/7a2540fiba

There are quite a few Bangladeshi Power stations that are due to be decommissioned in the next few years, all adds to the pressure

The silence is significant, BD Parliament reconvenes from today, it's been closed since beginning of March.

The power crisis is not only hampering the public life in the concerning areas, but also drastically disrupting the industrial and agricultural production. There was a time when load shedding used to be done in houses and markets to ensure power supply in agriculture and industries. Now none of them can be handled properly.

In context of the increasing demand, the government should have focused on how to become self-sufficient in energy

https://en.prothomalo.com/opinion/editorial/ecc8lbr6ab

G7 decisions relate to G7 countries, Bangladesh is a developing country not part of G7, COP meeting made it clear regarding clean coal and developing nations

''Meanwhile, the Hydrocarbon Unit, Energy and Mineral Resources Division has proposed formulating a smart master plan for the energy sector focusing on local primary energy.

Prominent energy expert Prof Shamsul Alam told The Daily Messenger, “The current master plan is very whimsical. It emphasises imported pricey fuel ignoring local energy. Of course, it will be better if we can sketch another master plan based on domestic fuel.''

‘’In this situation, the additional cost of energy import is putting pressure on the country's economy. The new plan will make ways to protect the country by increasing domestic energy production.

The government took the mega projects to meet the power demand in 100 economic zones. Gradually, the economic zones are getting ready for industrialisation, but a major portion of the power generation capacity cannot generate power due to fuel scarcity. ‘’

Director General of Power Cell Mohammad Hossain told The Daily Messenger, “We will gradually come out of imported fossil fuel, but it is not possible to do that right now. We have almost phased out the furnace oil-based plan. Gradually, we will adopt clean coal.”

(Clean coal equals own high quality coal using supercritical carbon capture technology)

https://www.dailymessenger.net/business/news/18066

INtro text translated to:

572 views 30 Apr 2024

Bangladesh is preparing to extract its own coal to reduce energy crisis and import dependence in the future, where there is also a plan to lift coal in the open system. So far, five coal mines have been discovered in the northern part of Bangladesh. These mines have 7,823 million tons of coal reserves. If the country can lift it, the country will be self-sufficient, if it can export dice, Bangladesh will become a rich country overnight. How is coal extracted in the open pit? When will the country's five coal mines start extracting? I'll tell you today