Bangladesh govt set to export condensate

The Bangladesh government is set to export natural-gas condensate – a source of petrol and octane – for the first time ever as its production has outpaced local demand.

Condensate, a liquid petroleum that comes with raw natural gas during extraction, is refined into petrol and octane at refineries.

Naphtha, a byproduct of crude, is the lone petroleum product that Bangladesh exports till date, produced at the Eastern Refinery of the state-run Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation.

Petrobangla, the state-run Oil, Gas and Mineral Resources Corporation, will export the excess gas condensate through the Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation.

On Monday, BPC is scheduled to open bids from international companies to export the first consignment of condensate, the corporation chairman AM Badruddoja told New Age on Sunday.

‘We will export 15,000 tonnes of condensate this time,’ he said, adding that a few more tenders will follow soon as the stock has piled up.

Neither the BPC chairman nor officials of Petrobangla gave any estimate of the quantity of condensate the government will export annually.

At present, 12 refineries, four are in the public sector and the rest private, process the current supply of condensate extracted from the country’s 21 gas fields and sell them to BPC’s marketing companies. The private refineries are also allowed to import condensate to refine into petroleum products.

The country’s annual production of condensate increased by over 70 per cent, mainly after Chevron Bangladesh set up a liquid recovery unit at Bibiyana gas field towards the end of 2014.

In the 2013-14 financial year, the state-owned and international oil companies extracted some 321,000 tonnes of condensate, and the quantity increased to 360,000 tonnes the following fiscal.

Energy division estimated the extraction of condensate would rise to 560,000 tonnes in the ongoing fiscal, 2015-16.

The country’s demand for petrol and octane, however, remained stuck at less than 350,000 tonnes per annum due to use of compressed natural gas or CNG, in private cars, pickup vans, buses and auto rickshaws, in the big cities, including Dhaka, Sylhet and Chittagong, a BPC official said.

Mostly motorbikes and private cars run on petrol and octane.

In July, prime minister Sheikh Hasina, who also holds the portfolio of power, energy and mineral resources ministry, approved a proposal of Petrobangla to export the condensate after meeting the country’s demand for its refined products — petrol and octane.

Now, the public and private sector operators of 21 gas fields can supply over 1,330 tonnes of condensate a day, of which Chevron alone can supply about 1,000 tonnes from the Bibiyana field.

Petrobangla officials said the operators of the gas fields often had to reduce the level of gas extraction whenever condensate overburdened the storage capacity.

Sometimes, the operators supply condensate-mixed gas to the transmission lines, which affect the transmission of natural gas during winter season, they said.

The condensate-mixed gas also affects the engines of power plants and fertiliser factories, they said. (Source: New Age, August 3, 2015)

MK Anwar gets bail, Aman lands in jail

Separate Dhaka courts on Sunday sent Bangladesh Nationalist Party joint secretary general Amanullah Aman to jail in a number of cases filed for arson attacks and vandalism during the BNP-led 20-party alliance’s blockade and hartal programme.

Ten Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Courts, one Senior Judicial Magistrate Court and one Metropolitan Sessions’ Judge Court sent the BNP leader to jail rejecting his bail petitions in 56 cases when he surrendered before the courts in 71 cases in the morning.

Of the 71 cases, Aman was granted bail in seven filed with Paltan, Motijheel, Jatrabari, Khilgaon and Savar police stations while the hearing on eight more cases was deferred as the case documents were not produced before the court.

Meanwhile, four Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Courts granted bail to BNP standing committee member MK Anwar in six cases filed for arson attack and vandalism with Khilgaon, Paltan, Motijheel and Jatrabari police stations.

Metropolitan Magistrates Ashoke Kumar Dutta, Aminul Haque, Asaduzzaman Nur and Tarek Mainul Bhuiya passed the orders when he surrendered before their courts on completion of his four-week bail granted by the High Court earlier.

Meanwhile, hearing on the bail petition filed by BNP chairperson’s adviser Abdul Awal Mintoo in a case filed with Paltan police was also deferred for lack of case document.

Earlier, three senior BNP leaders MK Anwar, Abdul Awal Mintoo and Amanullah Aman surrendered before separate Dhaka courts in the cases filed for arson attacks and vandalism. On July 27, the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court ordered the three BNP leaders to surrender before the lower court. (Source: New Age, August 3, 2015)

No poor to be in Bangladesh after 3yrs, says Muhith

Observing that the main objective of the Awami League government is to ensure people’s welfare, finance minister AMA Muhith on Sunday said there would be no poor in Bangladesh after three years.

‘The poverty rate has slid down to 22 per cent due to various development programmes taken by the government. There will be no poor in the country after three years,’ he said.

The minister was speaking at the opening session of a five-day workshop on ‘Strategy to check import of fake and adulterated goods’ at the conference of Grand Sultan Tea Resort and Golf in Srimangal.

The National Board of Revenue and World Customs Organisation jointly organised the workshop.

Muhith, however, said there always remains 10-14 per cent poverty in any country.

He also said the government would continue to provide assistance to them.

The minister said the NBR has to play an active role in implementing the big national budget.

Social welfare minister Syed Mohsin Ali, Shamsunnahar Sahana, MP and Abdul Munim Chowdhury Babu, MP, among others, spoke at the opening session with NBR chairman M Nojibur Rahman in the chair.

NBR member Farid Uddin presented the keynote paper at the workshop being participated by a total of 36 officials from NBR, commerce ministry, Export Promotion Bureau, Copyright Office and FBCCI. (Source: New Age, August 3, 2015)

BNP demands cancellation of VAT on private universities

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party on Sunday demanded cancellation of value added tax imposed on private universities and medial and engineering colleges.

BNP spokesperson Asaduzzaman Ripon at a briefing at the party central office at Naya Paltan also said that the VAT on the private educational institutions would be scrapped if BNP was voted to power.

The government imposed 7.5 per cent VAT on private universities and medical and engineering colleges for the fiscal year 2015-16.

‘Education is a fundamental right of every citizen according to the constitution, but it seems that the government is turning the private educational institutions into a business,’ he said.

Replying to comments the ruling Awami League general secretary, Syed Ashraful Islam, made on Saturday, Ripon said that the BNP would never be abolished as its leaders and activists had the ideology of late president Ziaur Rahman and they would establish the ideology.

Ashraful had said that the BNP would be abolished if it did not contest the next general election.

Ripon said that the BNP was a pro-election party and it would contest the polls under a non-party neutral government so that people might exercise their franchise freely and fairly.

He said that they wanted a fresh general election as the January 5, 2014 election was not an election at all. (Source: New Age, August 3, 2015)

‘Robber ringleader’ killed in gunfight with police in Meherpur

An alleged robber ringleader was killed and four police personnel were also injured in a gunfight between police and robbers at Rajanagar in Meherpur early Sunday.

The deceased was identified as Miarul Islam, 42, son of Iman Ali, a resident of Nurpur of the upazila.

Police arrested Miarul from his village on Saturday evening, said Ahsan Ali, officer-in-charge of Meherpur sadar police station.

He was wanted in several cases in three police stations, including murder and robbery case.

After interrogation, police along with Miarul conducted a drive at the village around 2:00am.

When the police team reached near Dindattu Bridge, associates of Miarul opened fire on police, prompting the law enforcers to fire back, triggering a gunfight.

Miarul was caught in the line of fire and died on the spot while his associates managed to flee the scene.

Police also recovered four hand bombs, three cartridges, one LG, one shutter gun and two machetes from the spot.

Four police personnel including a sub-inspector, two assistant sub-inspectors and a constable were also injured in this incident. (Source: New Age, August 3, 2015)

Bangladesh: Three-wheelers continue to run on highways

Three-wheeler auto-rickshaws and auto-tempos continued to run on different highways flouting ban for the second day on Sunday while policemen and auto-rickshaw workers were injured in a clash in Feni.

Transport workers blocked different highways while bus workers observed indefinite strikes in Barisal, Bhola and Sylhet blocking highways.

Road division secretary MAN Siddique on Sunday asserted that the government would not give in to any pressure for withdrawal of the ban.

The road transport and bridges ministry on July 27 issued a circular banning movement of three-wheelers and non-motorised vehicles on highways following findings that their growing presence led to recent spate of traffic accidents on highways across the country.

Three wheelers were seen to run on Dhaka-Sylhet highway’s Borabo area, Dhaka-Chittagong highway’s Kanchpur and Mohammad Ali area, Dhaka-Rajshahi and Bogra-Nagarbari highways.

Commuters in districts including Bogra, Munshiganj, Pabna and Sirajganj suffered for lack of transports on the long routes.

New Age Feni correspondent reported that at least eight people including three policemen were injured and 10 to 12 vehicles were vandalised in a clash on Dhaka-Chittagong highway at sadar upazila on Sunday morning.

The CNG-run auto-rickshaw workers blocked the road at Mohammad Ali area and the clash erupted when police tried to disperse them. Police fired around 50 bullets to bring the situation under control.

A 20-kilometre tailback was created during the clash.

The injured policemen were Feni police line constable Abdul Gaffar and Detective Branch assistant sub-inspector Alamgir and constable Abul Kalam.

Our correspondent in Barisal reported that Barisal bus owners and workers associations called for a strike on 15 internal routes from Sunday noon after three-wheeler owners and workers obstructed buses on Gournadi-Poisharhut route.

Meanwhile, three-wheeler owners and workers, led by Sramik League, blocked Barisal-Dhaka highway at Gournadi.

Bhola bus owners and workers’ union on Sunday around 2:00pm withdrew their 28-hour strike, reported our Bhola correspondent.

New Age Sylhet correspondent reported that the district unit of auto-rickshaw workers union on Sunday afternoon postponed the strike for the next two days, following ruling Awami League leaders’ assurance to settle the issue.

Our Munshiganj correspondent reported that police were seen to help people to get into inter-district buses on Dhaka-Chittagong highway from Meghna bridge to Daudkandi bridge at Gazaria.

Sirajganj district traffic police officer Md Abed Ali said on humanitarian ground they were allowing three-wheelers to pass Koddar intersection on Dhaka-Rajshahi highway, said our correspondent in Sirajganj.

Our Pabna correspondent reported that CNG-run auto-rickshaws owners and workers staged demonstrations and blockaded Pabna-Dhaka highway at Gaspara bypass.

New Age Gazipur correspondent reported that CNG-run auto-rickshaw owners and workers staged demonstrations on the Dhaka-Mymensingh highway and at Joydebpur and Chandona Chowrasta and blocked the highway in Joina Bazar area.

New Age Chittagong correspondent reported that around 500 to 600 CNG-run auto-rickshaw workers blockaded a portion of Dhaka-Chittagong highway for nearly an hour from 12:00pm at Fauzdarhat.

‘The government will not backtrack on its decision not to allow auto-rickshaws on highways. If needed we will deploy magistrates of the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority to maintain order in the troublesome areas,’ road division secretary MAN Siddique told reporters at his office.

The ban would remain in force only in 3,570-kilometer-highway out of a total of 2.5 lakh km road network across the country, he added. (Source: New Age, August 3, 2015)

Ariful Haque Hasan wins NCC councillor by-polls

Ariful Haque Hasan was unofficially elected councillor in the by-election to ward-4 of Narayanganj City Corporation held on Sunday.

Ariful Haque bagged 3,337 votes while his nearest candidate Amir Hossain Bhandari polled 2,397. The councillor post fell vacant as Nur Hossain, the prime accused in the sensational seven-murder case, was suspended. (Source: New Age, August 3, 2015)