New pipeline for Chevron gas to be build

“We have decided to build the pipeline at a cost of $150 million as Chevron says production at the Moulavi Bazar, Jalalabad and Bibiyana gas fields will be more than doubled to 1,840 million cubic feet (mmcft) a day,” said Mohammad Hussain Monsur, chairman of the state-run Bangladesh Oil, Gas and Mineral Corporation, or Petrobangla.

The increased production will be available by end of 2012, he told Reuters, adding that it comes at a time when the south Asian country is facing yawning gap between supply and demand for gas.

Monsur said to hasten the project, Bangladesh will avoid seeking funds for the pipeline from World Bank or any other multilateral financing agency but would pay for it from the state coffers.

He said Chevron had informed Petrobangla that it had identified additional gas production capacity and needed infrastructure to connect the fields with the national supply network.

Bangladesh at present faces up to 400 mmcft gas shortages a day, with the authorities supplying at best nearly 2,000 mmcft per day.

Chevron currently produces almost half the country’s gas supplies under two production sharing contracts.