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What about the cost of such an import based strategy? First is the infrastructure building cost. Depending on the size of the regasification terminal, the cost would exceed 4-5 billion dollars. The cost of the coal receiving facilities will also exceed 4-5 billion dollars and the oil receiving terminal plus inland oil, gas and coal infrastructure will amount to another 4-5 billion dollars. Therefore, a total of 12-15 billion dollars will be required for building the infrastructure. Then the cost of purchasing the fuels shown in the Table 3 must be added. If 2000 MMcfd of LNG, 4 million tons of LPG, 8 million tons of oil and 50 million tons of coal per year is imported, the total expense on account of purchasing fuels will easily cross 25 billion dollars.

“Coal

With regard to developing coal resources, no progress has been made. Coal mining appears to be bogged down. Bangladesh is blessed with one of the finest quality coal. Not only is it low in sulphur, but also a good portion of it is the high value coking coal. If open pit mining is employed, more than 90% of the reserves can be extracted. Even 50% of our known reserves will allow 10,000 MW to be generated for over 20 years.

Regarding importing coal Government should have at least started work on coal receiving facilities a long time back. Without good port facilities there is no possibility of building more than 5000 MW of coal-fired power plants. At the present moment three joint ventures and 2 private coal based power plants are at various stages of implementation. The total generating capacity of these 5 power plants is more than 6500 MW. Since all are based on imported coal, the challenges are significant. Three major hurdles can be anticipated, namely:

1. Timely financing

2. Construction of coal receiving facilities

3. Coal purchase contracts

If building coal-fired power plant based on imported coal is a challenge for BPDB having all government support at all levels, how difficult would it be for a private company?”

At present coal is used mainly by brick kilns. The Boropukuria coalmine produces about 1 million tons of coal, which is mainly used for power generation. The total consumption is around 4 million tons. For the proposed 15,000 MW of coal fired power plants approximately 45 million tons of coal will be required. Along with coal for brick production, which is projected to increase to 5 million tons, the total coal requirement will be 50 million tons.

The increase in oil demand will not be as large as gas or coal demands because it has been assumed that the growth of the CNG sub-sector will continue unabated.

https://ep-bd.com/view/details/anniversary/OA%3D%3D/title?q=energy-challenges-in-2030

I know that anything posted over the next few weeks will make no difference to us until we are updated by the company on the future funding, but just feel it will be important to keep up to date on the news and opinions of what’s going on in Bangladesh ..........

“We will get a new government in 2024. We hope to see major reforms, especially in taxation, and financial and energy sectors.”

We want to see a long term energy policy roadmap, based on which investment decisions can be made,” he added

https://www.daily-sun.com/printversion/details/728008

Obviously, I was positive before today and thought that today’s RNS announcement when I saw it come through was just going to be conformation of the Polo draw down, so like many of you at the time I was gutted and frustrated to see the news that we actually got, although I did not sell any of my holding, BUT now on reflection I am now personally feeling more positive, probably more so than ever, there are so many questions to be answered about what’s really going on in the background and what games are being played, but I guess we will not know the answers to these for another three / four weeks as we now go into suspension, unless of course we get other RNS’s during the suspension period updating us about other events. During these three / four weeks there is so much is going to be going on in Bangladesh as we know, with the election on the 7th January, so during this time in suspension we could get any sort of hints from the powers that be about Phulbari and Open Pin mining, and of course it could be good or bad news who knows, so I guess tomorrow morning is the final make your mind up time…

Its a 50/50 bet, but I know which side of the fence that I am sitting……

GL to all, what ever you decide…

So with the election on the 7th and us now suspended for 3 weeks from the 2nd it will be interesting to see what the hell happens either way if Hasina made comment on Phulbari straight after the election.........

Why would they still allow trading to continue and not go into am immediate suspension until they had a further announcement!!!

So bloody frustrating!!

Stevehuges, I think the post below are all excellent and explain the situation very well.. I am personally confident that all will be sorted and will will receive the RNS that we are due.

Alfredgeorge, these accounts for Polo are 10 years old, so are pointless lol

Https://www.tbsnews.net/economy/exporters-vexed-about-customs-energy-woes-764882?amp

Anxious over energy

However, his growing concern stems from the increasing dependence on imported energy, as historically, no country has achieved success solely relying on energy imports.

This Statement from Hasina was also in other papers as well though …..

"In the last three terms, groundbreaking and revolutionary developments have been made in the country's power sector," she said.

She also said long-term plans have been adopted to increase power generation capacity to 40,000MW by 2030 and 60,000MW by 2041.“

https://www.tbsnews.net/bangladesh/energy/al-ensure-uninterrupted-quality-power-and-energy-supply-al-election-manifesto?amp

Hi Steve, I’m sorry but for some reason I can’t open it now either, even the main home page for the Bangladesh Post Link won’t open, sorry 🤷‍♂️

https://bangladeshpost.net/

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who is also Awami League president, on Wednesday said uninterrupted and quality power and energy supply are assured if Awami League is elected.

"In the last three terms, groundbreaking and revolutionary developments have been made in the country's power sector," she said while announcing the election manifesto of Awami League at a city hotel on Wednesday.

“She also said longterm plans have been adopted to increase power generation capacity to 40,000 MW by 2030 and 60,000 MW by 2041.“

https://bangladeshpost.net/posts/non-stop-quality-power-energy-supply-128166

“Providing affordable and sustainable primary energy is the biggest challenge for the country. Currently, around 60 percent of energy for power production is imported. The current import-dependent energy mix was planned in hopes of robust economic growth, which did not materialise. As a result, the energy sector has become a major burden for the foreign exchequer.”

“In the medium and long terms, the country must reduce the import dependency on primary energy. We must explore and exploit all three indigenous energy sources—gas, coal, and renewable energy.”

https://www.thedailystar.net/opinion/views/news/energy-poor-bangladesh-and-its-transition-obligations-3504456

Don't you just love it when investors like St.JohnSmyer show up making statements that shows they really do not have a clue about what they are talking about and what is going on in Bangladesh!!

Quite funny really ...........

Not seen any reports about her visit yet Steve, but don’t expect anything to be said about Phulbari Coal until after the election imo

And again, this repost from just before Christmas… looks like exciting times ahead hopefully 🤞

And again, although in the same paper!!

“It is possible to generate 10,000 megawatts of electricity for 50 years from the coal of two mines”-Engineer Saleque

https://www.tbsnews.net/multimedia/it-possible-generate-10000-megawatts-electricity-50-years-coal-two-mines-engineer-saleque

Great to see so many positive articles over the Christmas period, and I hope you don’t mind but I thought that this post from just before Christmas was worth repeating….

This looks to be the committee meeting that discussed Phulbari and open pit mining, and i do not believe this was not in the original article that I posted earlier in the week and has only been released today!

"On the other hand, coal from Phulbaria and Bara Pukuriya should be mined in open pit method. If this is done, it is possible to generate 10,000 megawatts of electricity with that coal for at least 50 years."

So good to see this being highlighted again!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfPOyy8CbnM

This was the link from the article earlier in the week

https://www.tbsnews.net/bangladesh/energy/why-keep-coal-underground-while-energy-import-bill-soars-ask-experts-761542

Alfredgeorge, that’s obviously from 2017, it’s not exactly a mass rally, BUT also much more importantly, the country and views have moved on and are in a totally different situation today!!

You should take a read of the recent press articles calling for Phulbari to be mined!!

From the first link from July 2019

“Deputy Commissioner, Mahmudul Alam, said: “the economic zone will be on 308 acres of land; of this, 87 acres have already been handed over to the BEZA authority at a nominal cost.”

The remaining 221 acres will be acquired and then handed over to the zone authority.

This will begin operation in two to two and a half years, he observed.”

For this size of development you would think that they are definitely going to need a lot more power than is already available in the area..

https://en.banglatribune.com/country/news/59117/First-economic-zone-in-Rangpur-division-in