Online Reporter/

The country is suffering from fuel shortage. Due to lack of gas and coal, electricity production is being disrupted. Increased load shedding. Industrial production is hampered by gas crisis. Due to the dollar crisis, the import of gas and coal is stopped. To deal with the crisis, experts are calling for emphasis on oil and gas exploration in the country. However, as always, the energy sector is neglected in the budget.

In the budget of the next financial year, only 911 crore rupees have been proposed for the development of the energy sector. The revised budget for the current financial year has an allocation of Tk 1,842 crore. However, the electricity development budget is proposed to be 33 thousand 775 crores. In the revised budget of the current financial year, the allocation is Tk 25 thousand 247 crores.

In the proposed budget, 34 thousand 819 crores have been allocated for power and energy sector. Out of this, the development budget is Tk 34 thousand 686 crores. In the revised budget for the current financial year, the total allocation for power and energy sector is Tk 27 thousand 190 crores.

Cab’s energy advisor Professor Shamsul Alam said that the decrease in domestic gas production increases the opportunity to import LNG. Many people get commission on this. So there is not enough investment in energy exploration. But thousands of crores of rupees are being subsidized in LNG.

In the budget speech, the finance minister said that a target of 60,000 megawatts of electricity production has been set by 2041. In this, it is planned to import about 9 thousand megawatts of electricity from neighboring countries. Oil and gas exploration is also going on in the offshore area. As this work requires huge investment, necessary steps are being taken to attract foreign investment. Liquefied natural gas is being imported to meet the increased demand for fuel.

Fuel duty reform hopes to reduce prices of energy department, BPC skeptical

From the next financial year, the government will impose specific duties instead of the existing 5-10 percent import duty on 13 types of energy products. The new duty will be a maximum of Tk 13.75 per litre. Besides, 15 percent Musak and 5 percent advance tax have been withdrawn at the import level of these products. The energy department hopes that this will reduce the price of fuel in the country. Because, along with tax reduction, prices in the international market are also low.

However, the Petroleum Corporation (BPC), which is responsible for importing and marketing fuel oil, is in the dark about this reform of duties and taxes. They are in doubt whether this initiative of the National Board of Revenue (NBR) will reduce the cost of fuel oil import at all.

Finance Minister Mustafa Kamal in his budget speech proposed to impose specific duty on petroleum products. Later NBR issued SRO in this regard. The existing import duty on petroleum oil and oil derived from bituminous minerals is 5 percent. According to the new proposal, it will be Rs 7.02 per liter from the next financial year (barrel price is Rs 1,117). 11 types of petroleum products including kerosene, light diesel, motor spirit, jet fuel will have a fixed duty of Tk 13.75 per litre. The existing duty is 10 percent. The existing import duty on furnace oil is 10 percent. In this case the specific duty will be Tk 9.10 per liter (Tk 9,108 per barrel).

BPC officials said the advance tax was paid earlier but adjusted later. As a result, there will be no change in its withdrawal. The import duty was increased to Tk 13.75 per litre, now it is Tk 4-6. And although it was said to withdraw VAT at the import level, nothing was said about the existing 2 percent VAT at the sales level.

The price of fuel oil in the international market is decreasing. Due to this, there is a demand to reduce the price of fuel oil in the country market. There is talk that the government may reduce the price of fuel ahead of the upcoming elections. State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid also indicated this in a discussion meeting in the capital last Monday. The price of crude oil per barrel in the international market is now 72 to 78 dollars.