Fertiliser factories to get full gas supply once availability improves: Minister

The government will be able to supply gas to all fertiliser factories if domestic gas availability improves through increased production from existing and potential gas fields, Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Iqbal Hassan Mahmood said today (12 November).

“However, if gas availability improves in the future and we can bring additional gas from the fields where we expect to find reserves, I believe we will be able to supply gas to all fertiliser factories,” he said in parliament in response to a supplementary question from ruling party lawmaker from reserved women’s seat-32 Nadia Pathan Papon during the day’s question-answer session in the House with Speaker Hafiz Uddin Ahmad in the chair.

The minister said the government currently prioritises fertiliser factories with higher production capacities to ensure maximum output from available gas supplies.

“You know that we have a gas shortage. We could otherwise supply this gas to various power plants. That is why we have had to limit gas supply to fertiliser factories,” he said.

He explained that the government allocates gas to factories that can produce more fertiliser using their existing machinery and production capacity.

The minister expressed optimism that increased gas availability from prospective gas fields would allow the government to extend supplies to all fertiliser factories in the future.

In response to another supplementary question from opposition lawmaker Mahbubul Alam from Kurigram-3, the minister said the government had taken steps to examine the possibility of extracting heavy minerals from the sand deposits of the Brahmaputra and Teesta river chars in Kurigram.

“If examination and assessment establish that the extraction is economically viable, we will certainly proceed with it,” he said.