Bangladesh must urgently prioritise domestic gas exploration over costly, volatile LNG imports to ensure long-term energy security.

Bhola island’s demand stands at 90 mmcfd. The remaining 30 mmcfd is planned to be supplied to industrial areas under Titas Gas.

Bangladesh Petroleum Exploration and Production Company Ltd (BAPEX) has started production of gas on an experimental basis from a newly found field in Bhola, officials confirmed yesterday.

Explorers have struck gas about 32km north of the Shahbazpur Gas Field in Bhola, a southern coastal district. A total of 600 billion cubic feet of gas has been found in Bheduria union, Cabinet Secretary Mohammad Shafiul Alam disclosed to reporters at the Secretariat yesterday.

The new gas in Bhola turns out to be real. Country's energy explorer Bapex has completed two pending geological tests to confirm existence of high-pressured extractable natural gas, only 3km away from Shahbazpur field.

The gas field in Bhola has the potential to become the largest reserve of natural gas in the country, surpassing Titas in Brahmanbaria, geologists told The Daily Star yesterday.