Based on private electricity producers’ request, the Power Development Board (PDB) asked Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) to nearly triple its import of furnace oil to around 500,000 tonnes a month so that the electricity demand in the summer can be met.
The fourth tranche of the instalment was deferred due to disagreements and now talks are going on to release two tranches at once.
Government officials will face death penalty or minimum life sentence if found guilty of causing the death of enforced disappearance victims, according to a draft ordinance unveiled yesterday.
As much as $900 million has been on hold since 2022 in the central bank's escrow account
The interim government may backtrack from its initial plan to set an ambitious GDP growth target of 6 percent for the next fiscal year amid the new economic reality and settle for 5.5 percent.
The government has set new gas tariffs for the industrial sector, hiking the price by 33 percent for new units, despite objections from businesses and consumer rights organisations.
Bangladesh’s power sector is burdened by overcapacity and systemic inefficiencies, hindering its ability to deliver reliable and cost-effective electricity, says Prof Dr Saifur Rahman, a Bangladeshi expert based in the US.
Protesting students began reaching out to Nobel laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus as early as August 1, 2024, through his colleagues, at the peak of the mass uprising against the ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
Power supply to households remains largely stable nationwide, as many energy-intensive sources such as mills, factories, offices, and shopping malls are yet to reopen following the Eid holidays.
With the weather getting warmer, power crisis is growing across the country and some rural areas have been experiencing prolonged loadshedding since last week.
The government built two compressor stations in 2016 to supply gas at adequate pressure to different districts, but the expensive machinery has been underutilised due to inadequate gas flow.
Bangladesh’s access to cheap loans is closing in with its rising per capita income, making foreign borrowing costlier.
Bangladesh will end up with surplus LNG regasification capacity by the end of this decade, said the UK-based BMI Research -- a development that will ultimately cost the exchequer in fees similar to capacity charges for power plants.
The government is likely to stop new gas connections to industries save for eight “economically vital” ones under a forthcoming regulation.
The government is continuing to ramp up the power generation capacity even though the electricity demand did not increase as per projection, putting an additional price burden on consumers, said energy experts.
Gas scarcity is likely to continue till April despite the government’s repeated assurance of scaling up gas supply during Ramadan and the irrigation season as one of the two Floating Storage and Regasification Units (FSRU) will take longer to complete maintenance works.
Petrobangla yesterday floated the offshore bidding tender inviting international oil and gas companies (IOCs) to explore Bangladesh’s maritime area in the Bay of Bengal.
Mymensingh and Cumilla cities go to polls today to pick their mayors and councillors, just two months after the Awami League formed a new government.
