Bangladesh Economy: News & Updates

[Nilgiri]

It's supposed to be inside the Purbachal ('Eastern Abode' - a poetic name in Bengali) New Town project, a still incomplete suburb close to the edges of Dhaka.

Purbachal is supposed to be completed in December 2017, but of course, don't count on it.

The link road is only 60% done. Building infrastructure in Bangladesh takes three times the money and time, because we only have low-lying land mostly.

Every major real estate developer in Bangladesh have bought huge swathes of land there to develop commercial and residential zones. It will be the next zone-oriented planned development for Dhaka City.

You cannot use eminent domain - some of these local people have fought court battles for decades and they could not evict them. This suburb was planned some two decades ago.

The road and some newer subdivisions look like this now,

Thanks for the info. Something definitely sounds really off about the proposal then. A new edge of town suburb is not really where you want to put something like this from the get go.

It could be a publicity stunt of some sort.

 

[Bilal9]

Hi all,

I was looking for oil refinery/consumption data for Bangladesh.

The latest figures I could find is that demand in Bangladesh for refined oil products is around 120,000 barrels per day....and its total refinery output is under 40,000 barrels per day (capacity)....about 2 - 3 year old data now.

Are there any more up to date figures and are there any large refinery projects currently underway or proposed?

Your best 'relevant and credible' source for data will be the UN KNOEMA site which has the latest data (as of 2013). That is the latest I see. Choose 'Bangladesh', then choose 'refinery capacity' and 'final energy consumption' which may or may not be what you need.

https://knoema.com/UNSDESD2016/un-statistics-division-energy-statistics-database-2016

For energy research - you may be routed in the wrong direction as far as oil. Bangladesh' energy needs are primarily met with Natural Gas - even for vehicles (the number of CNG vehicles in urban areas is common). Average natural gas production locally is around 2,700 MMcf/d, a supply that is insufficient to meet demand - which is more than 3,200 MMcf/d.

To meet the shortfall, an FSRU is being built in the Southern areas, which will convert liquified gas into transmission gas to be fed into the national grid. This FSRU is going online sometime in 2017.

http://www.rigzone.com/news/oil_gas...ign_Agreement_to_Build_Bangladeshs_First_FSRU

I'd be more interested in knowing why we can't import crude oil from Assam, which is just across our Northern border.

 

[Nilgiri]

Your best 'relevant and credible' source for data will be the UN KNOEMA site which has the latest data (as of 2013). That is the latest I see. Choose 'Bangladesh', then choose 'refinery capacity' and 'final energy consumption' which may or may not be what you need.

https://knoema.com/UNSDESD2016/un-statistics-division-energy-statistics-database-2016

For energy research - you may be routed in the wrong direction as far as oil. Bangladesh' energy needs are primarily met with Natural Gas - even for vehicles (the number of CNG vehicles in urban areas is common). Average natural gas production locally is around 2,700 MMcf/d, a supply that is insufficient to meet demand - which is more than 3,200 MMcf/d.

To meet the shortfall, an FSRU is being built in the Southern areas, which will convert liquified gas into transmission gas to be fed into the national grid. This FSRU is going online sometime in 2017.

http://www.rigzone.com/news/oil_gas...ign_Agreement_to_Build_Bangladeshs_First_FSRU

I'd be more interested in knowing why we can't import crude oil from Assam, which is just across our Northern border.

Thanks, the number comes to roughly what I got from the other source. Thanks again.

Yes it seems B'desh prefers natural gas which makes much sense. I calculated the demand of 3200 MMcf/d to about 600,000 barrels of gasoline equivalent per day....about 5 times the demand for petroleum.

But there is still a large mismatch in Bangladesh between oil refining capacity and its total demand for petroleum products (total capacity is about a third of total demand). I wonder if the capex costs of building more refineries is not too feasible compared to simply importing the shortfall from India, Singapore etc. since bulk energy consumption is from gas anyway.

Assam produces maybe about 60,000 barrels a day of oil...and its declining by some amount each year I've heard. Importing some of that crude directly only makes sense if Bangladesh has already got excess refinery capacity compared to its total petroleum demand...which it doesn't probably because of what I mentioned earlier with the capex costs of creating refineries compared to importing refined products (when you especially factor in land availability in Bangladesh).

Its definitely more prudent for Bangladesh to try increase its local gas production if possible to meet more of its future energy demand since that seems to be the larger consumption (and thus potential import saving) and gas refineries (technically processing) need much lower land and capex for same BTU throughput in general (Esp if its good quality raw gas).

FSRU sounds like a much needed project which will pay itself off quite quickly for sure.

From who does Bangladesh import the Natural gas shortfall from mostly currently before the FSRU goes online (where the gas seems to be going to be sourced from Qatar)?

 

[Bilal9]

From who does Bangladesh import the Natural gas shortfall from mostly currently before the FSRU goes online (where the gas seems to be going to be sourced from Qatar)?

I couldn't fathom a guess. I don't honestly think the shortfall is currently being met. Gas supply is quite tight as a result.

 

[TopCat]

I dont think its a scam. Its been discussed for a long time with this developer. They are blamed for some scam yet they successfully completed some of the great project around the world. Even Donal Trump is not clean.

 

[Arthur]

Orey kisu poisha-o khaoisilo - amar moeney hoi....

মাল মাল খাইসে শিওর, নাইলে কি আর চোর বাটপারের এতো প্রশংসা?

 

[Species]

Thanks, the number comes to roughly what I got from the other source. Thanks again.

Yes it seems B'desh prefers natural gas which makes much sense. I calculated the demand of 3200 MMcf/d to about 600,000 barrels of gasoline equivalent per day....about 5 times the demand for petroleum.

But there is still a large mismatch in Bangladesh between oil refining capacity and its total demand for petroleum products (total capacity is about a third of total demand). I wonder if the capex costs of building more refineries is not too feasible compared to simply importing the shortfall from India, Singapore etc. since bulk energy consumption is from gas anyway.

Assam produces maybe about 60,000 barrels a day of oil...and its declining by some amount each year I've heard. Importing some of that crude directly only makes sense if Bangladesh has already got excess refinery capacity compared to its total petroleum demand...which it doesn't probably because of what I mentioned earlier with the capex costs of creating refineries compared to importing refined products (when you especially factor in land availability in Bangladesh).

Its definitely more prudent for Bangladesh to try increase its local gas production if possible to meet more of its future energy demand since that seems to be the larger consumption (and thus potential import saving) and gas refineries (technically processing) need much lower land and capex for same BTU throughput in general (Esp if its good quality raw gas).

FSRU sounds like a much needed project which will pay itself off quite quickly for sure.

From who does Bangladesh import the Natural gas shortfall from mostly currently before the FSRU goes online (where the gas seems to be going to be sourced from Qatar)?

http://www.thedailystar.net/business/deal-signed-treble-countrys-oil-refining-capacity-170932

"Nasrul Hamid, state minister for power, said the project would enable the country to process any kind of crude oil and it might put Bangladesh on the path to becoming a country exporting refined petroleum products."

 

[Homo Sapiens]

Your source? None of BD domestic flight takes more than 30 mins

Well,Sayedpur-Cox-bazar flight will definitely take 1 hour. Al though it is not that common.Dhaka is in central location and almost all the flight took place from here and to.That's why we have half an hour flight mostly.

and for all of India its 15 Million per month

I doubt 180 million people fly within India each year.It sound like a highly developed country's figure.

 

[Arthur]

http://www.thedailystar.net/business/deal-signed-treble-countrys-oil-refining-capacity-170932

"Nasrul Hamid, state minister for power, said the project would enable the country to process any kind of crude oil and it might put Bangladesh on the path to becoming a country exporting refined petroleum products."

They also secured Kuwaiti and Saudi investment for refinery sector.Also they has plan to import LNG from Qata.

 

[Nilgiri]

http://www.thedailystar.net/business/deal-signed-treble-countrys-oil-refining-capacity-170932

"Nasrul Hamid, state minister for power, said the project would enable the country to process any kind of crude oil and it might put Bangladesh on the path to becoming a country exporting refined petroleum products."

Trebling sounds about right from 40,000 current capacity to 120,000 barrels a day current demand saving forex.

But to export surplus, it needs to go a lot more than 120,000 since Bangladesh own demand will have also increased by the time it comes online. So maybe a quadrupling to make sure there is some surplus to export (i.e local demand will be definitely covered).

A good news for Bangladesh all around. It seems there was land at an existing refinery site for expansion.

 

[Species]

Trebling sounds about right from 40,000 current capacity to 120,000 barrels a day current demand saving forex.

But to export surplus, it needs to go a lot more than 120,000 since Bangladesh own demand will have also increased by the time it comes online. So maybe a quadrupling to make sure there is some surplus to export (i.e local demand will be definitely covered).

A good news for Bangladesh all around. It seems there was land at an existing refinery site for expansion.

We have few more oil refineries in the pipeline.

 

[Nilgiri]

We have few more oil refineries in the pipeline.

Well its finally about time I would say!

 

[Michael Corleone]

It is not a scam. Even govt expressed interest in building this from long back and they have plans to move the capital to purbachal as far as I know. Since Dhaka has become beyond fixable. Just don't trash everything you see. I remember people trashing dr. Yunus when he won Nobel peace prize. I don't know if he is good or bad but what do bangalis get by trashing someone's image? Although I am not entirely sure if this KPC firm is designing he buildings. I thought HMO Is world leader at designing sky scrapers and does design work of all of them. Who did the design work of the tower? BUET or this KPC company?

 

[TopCat]

We have few more oil refineries in the pipeline.

Bangladesh does not allow private companies in petroleum refining business. Few of the companies tried including Bashundara but I guess they did not get the permit. GOB wants monopoly in importing and distributing petro products.
I read somewhere that new refineries are not economically feasible anymore considering the excess capacity in existing refineries around the world. Bangladesh could use Indian capacity as we are not the producer of crude anyways.

 

[TopCat]

It is not a scam. Even govt expressed interest in building this from long back and they have plans to move the capital to purbachal as far as I know. Since Dhaka has become beyond fixable. Just don't trash everything you see. I remember people trashing dr. Yunus when he won Nobel peace prize. I don't know if he is good or bad but what do bangalis get by trashing someone's image? Although I am not entirely sure if this KPC firm is designing he buildings. I thought HMO Is world leader at designing sky scrapers and does design work of all of them. Who did the design work of the tower? BUET or this KPC company?

I want to give them benefit of doubt. This kind of project will showcase Bangladesh internationally and will bring in more investment in the long run. Look at Malaysia and their twin tower and how that show cased Malaysia for a long time.

We got a wiki page for it...
Little bit more about the future plan. It seems like a total business district with additional towers of smaller height.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iconic_Tower