Govt counting huge losses every year

The shutdown of state-owned Kailashtila MSTE by Rupantarita Prakritik Gas Company Limited (RPGCL) plant in Sylhet district has been causing financial losses to the government for the past two years.

RPGCL used to sell 80/81 standard petrol, diesel to the Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) however in September 2020, BPC stopped purchasing fuel from the state-owned company, resulting in a halt in its production since then.

Once RPGCL used to earn Tk 40-45 crore annually by producing 1 lakh litres of petrol, 13-14 thousand litres of diesel and 11-15 tonnes of LP gas daily, said Engineer Khaleda Begum, managing director (Operation) of RPGCL.

Kailashtila gas field used to supply 350 barrels of Natural Gas Liquid (NGL) and 550 barrels of condensate to the RPGCL for producing petrol, diesel and LP gas, she said, adding that but the fuel supply remained halted for the past two years. 

When asked about the condition of machinery that remained inoperative for two years she said, “We are trying to keep all the machines operational except those which are used for production.”

“We can come to know about the present condition of those machines after resuming production.”     

BPC stopped purchasing fuel as per a directive issued by the High Court following a writ petition that stated the fuel produced by RPGCL failed to maintain the standards set by the Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution (BSTI).

According to international standards, that fuel will be considered octane, with at least 95 per cent octane molecules. Petrol must contain at least 89 per cent octane particles. But Kailashtila was producing 80-82 per cent octane particles. 

Due to the shutdown of the RPGCL plant, Sylhet Gas Field has to burn 25 per cent of its LPG and condensate production every day as the plant has no infrastructure for preservation causing huge financial losses to the government and putting adverse impact on the environment.

Sylhet Gas Field, also known as Kailashtila LPG Plant, was established in 1998 and around 80 employees working there. Later, RPGCL was set up to utilise Natural Gas Liquid (NGL) produced by Kailashtila Molecular Sieve Turbo Expander (MSTE) Plant. NGL and condensate, which are the by-products of natural gas produced from Sylhet Gas Fields Ltd, were being processed by RPGCL to produce petrol, diesel and LPG.

RPGCL was the forerunner in encouraging the use of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) as an alternate fuel in the transport sector. People were encouraged to use CNG as a fuel in order to reduce the environmental pollution. RPGCL played a positive role in building the CNG fuel-based infrastructure in the transport sector of the country. After two years, a team of top officials from the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources has visited the RPGCL plant in December last year to resolve the issue, said Managing Director of Sylhet Gas Field Mizanur Rahman. “We are seeing a ray of hope after the visit of top officials,” he added.