A parliamentary panel on Thursday ruled out a civic group proposal seeking a ban on the export of mineral resources, including gas and coal, for 50 years. Leaders of the national committee to protect oil, gas, mineral resources, power and ports put forth the suggestion in a form of ‘draft law’ at a meeting of the parliamentary standing committee on the power, energy and mineral resources ministry asking the committee to enact a law to this effect.

‘This can never be considered a draft law to be placed in the parliament for passage. It is a mere statement,’ Abdul Matin Khasru, a member on the committee, told a briefing after the meeting to which the civic group was invited for a discussion on the model production sharing contract 2008 for oil and gas exploration in the Bay of Bengal. The meeting was organised at a time when the government has decided to sign PSCs with two international oil companies for hydrocarbon exploration and extraction in Bangladesh’s territorial waters.

A five-member civic group team urged the standing committee to scrap the PSC, which they said would allow gas export, and to draft a new policy on mineral exploration and extraction, which the committee rejected. ‘The production sharing contract cannot be scrapped. It can be modified,’ Shubid Ali Bhuiyan, the committee chairman, said at the briefing, adding there was no scope for gas export in the proposed deals. Subid, who presided over the meeting, said the proposed deal stipulated that Pertobangla, the national oil and gas agency, had the first right to buy gas. If it refuses, the companies must offer local users and the third option is gas export in a liquefied form, which he said is an expensive option. ‘Considering Bangladesh’s domestic demands, there is hardly any possibility of gas export.’

But the civic group chief, Sheikh Muhammad Shaheedullah, pointed out there was an option for gas export in the proposed deals. ‘We asked the committee to recommend that the government should scrap the provision for the export of minerals.’ Asked whether the committee agrees with the civic group in cancelling the provision for gas export, Abdul Matin Khasru, said no international company would bid for exploration and extraction if they would come to know there was no provision for export. Fazle Noor Tapas, another member on the committee, said the provision for gas export came in the proposed deal in line with the continuation of the previous PSCs signed in the past. There was a provision for gas export through pipeline in the previous deal, but this one made the provision only in LNG form, he said.

The civic group’s member secretary Anu Muhammad, a professor of Jahangirnagar University, who also attended the meeting, said there were grey areas in the proposed deal, drafted during the two years’ rule of the military-controlled interim government, and they needed to be clarified. ‘We had a discussion with the committee members and both the sides agreed that some areas should be clarified,’ he sad, adding more meetings will take place in the future. The responsibility for making such things clear lies with Petrobangla, which does not always serve properly the purpose of the nation, Anu said, adding the group had no expectations from the committee. ‘We have raised our issue at the meeting and put it forward to the group’s national convention against gas export scheduled for October 24.’

Disagreeing with Anu, the committee chairman said there was no confusion regarding any matter. Subid termed the meeting frustrating, saying the ‘respected leaders of the committee’ were invited to the discussion only on the proposed PSC. But they were overburdened with too many things and had never made any point clear, he said. ‘Despite that, we hope we will sit with them again.’ Mahbub Uddin Khokon, the only opposition member on the parliamentary panel, said he supported the gas exploration bids in line with his party stance with no option for gas export. Asked for comments on the move of the previous BNP-led alliance government for the export of natural gas, the BNP lawmaker said there had been no official decision to this effect. ‘A group of ministers talked about gas export and it was definitely based on their wrong perception.’ The state minister for power, energy and mineral resources and officials of the ministry and Petrobangla attended the meeting, among others.

-New Age

Committee meets watchdog, seeks exports ban

bdnews: The National Committee on Protection of Oil, Gas and Mineral Resources, Power and Ports on Thursday submitted a 'draft bill' to a parliamentary watchdog, opposing gas and coal exports in any form for the next 50 years. The pressure group of left-leaning politicians and professionals asked the parliamentary standing committee on energy ministry to recommend cancellation of the Model Production Sharing Contract (PSCs) with foreign oil companies and invite fresh tenders for gas blocks bidding. Sheikh Mohammed Shahidullah, convenor of the National Committee, told reporters that his team had specifically pointed out at the meeting that the PSC had gas export provision.

Standing committee chairman Subid Ali Bhuiyan said the Model PSC-2008 did not contain any specific provision for export. Committee member Abdul Matin Khasru said the national committee's draft bill "was not bill at all". He also said the standing committee was not convinced by the national committee's statement and would sit with its leaders again. "I am a lawmaker. Is it a bill? This is not a bill at all," Khasru told journalists at the media centre in parliament building. "Will any oil company sign PSC if we say first that you cannot export gas?" He said the PSCs were framed in line with the PSCs signed in 10 other countries.

The committee chairman said as per the PSC-2008, the international oil companies would first offer Petrobangla if it could explore gas in the Bay. It would sell gas, Bhuiyan said, to the local market if the Petrobangla refused buying the same. "If the local market cannot consume, the companies will export the gas in LNG form (liquefied natural gas)," said the chairman. Khasru backed him: "We have huge demand in the domestic market. So, the question of exporting gas does not come." "We just told them that we are not convinced. So, we will sit with you again." On scrapping the PSC, committee chairman Bhuiyan said, "Can an international agreement be cancelled? It can be modified."

Shahidullah told reporters after the meeting, "We have submitted a draft law for passage in parliament for banning exports of all minerals (gas, oil and coal) for the next 50 years for energy security of the country. "We will not allow our mineral to be exported at any cost." He claimed that the standing committee members agreed with them that Bangladesh could not export gas. The national committee's member-secretary Anu Muhammad said, "We have pinpointed the provisions of the PSC having export options." "If this government prohibits gas and coal export, no government in future will dare export them," he said. "We have demanded cancellation of the PSCs and go for fresh bidding."

Fazle Noor Taposh, a committee member, told reporters it would take five years to get gas if the government signed PSCs with the companies now. "If we do not go for gas exploration now, India and Myanmar will take our oil and gas away," said Taposh, a nephew of prime minister Sheikh Hasina, also energy minister. Khasru said Bangladesh did not have enough money for oil and gas exploration which involved huge investment. "So, we need the international oil companies and the PSCs", he said.

The military-installed interim government in 2008 signed an agreement with US ConocoPhillips and Irish company Tullow Oil for oil and gas exploration in the Bay of Bengal. The government in August approved the proposal to award ConocoPhilips and Tullow contracts to explore oil and gas in three offshore blocks. ConocoPhillips, the third largest energy company in the US, will get deep-sea blocks 10 and 11. Shallow-sea block 5 will be awarded to Irish company Tullow that already operates in Bangladesh's Bhangura gas field. The government will soon sign the PSCs with the two companies soon, energy ministry sources say.

The National Committee is protesting against the deals which it claims would allow the two foreign companies to export up to 80 percent of gas extracted. The government has said the committee is confusing the public on the issue with such false information. The National Committee called a general strike in capital Dhaka on Sept 2 protesting the government's move for "oil and gas export". The parliamentary standing committee, which backed the government for signing the PSCs, invited the national committee leaders to the parliamentary body for talks.