88 Offshore Industry in Bangladesh: Present Status and Future Prospect to Contribute for National Economy

2.2 Remarkable Offshore Structures in Bangladesh

2.2.1 Sangu Gas Field
Sangu Gas Field, the first commercial offshore gas field in Bangladesh explored in
1996, is situated in east of the Bay of Bengal at offshore Block SS 04 shown in Figure 2
(previously named as Block 16). An Australian company, Santos, took charge of its
operations and transferred rights to the helm 2 years later to a British oil
company, Cairn Energy in 1998. The initial estimated capacity of production was about
1612 BCF (Cairn Energy, 1998). The gas field primarily continued to extract about 50
MCF of gas daily which later amplified up to 180 MCF per day (Imam, 2002).
Everything seemed to be smooth but production level abruptly started reducing from
2009 that leaded it to be declared abandoned at the end of the 2013 aftertotal extraction
of 487 BCF gas. The government of Bangladesh later intended to convert the offshore
field into an storage of the imported LNG. (FinancialExpress, 2018) However, a recent
study reassessed the total capacity 1056 billoin cubic feet among which 847 BCF is
identified recoverable. Therefore, 358 BCF is yet to extract which is recommended to
be extracted via application of advance technology (Haque et al., 2020).

Figure 2: Sangu Gas Field (Rezac, 2005)

2.2.2 Moheshkhali FLNG Terminal

Moheshkhali FLNG Terminal (see Figure 3) termed as MFLNG is a liquefied natural
gas (LNG) terminal with floating storage regasification unit (FSRU) and located off the
coast of southwest Chittagong, Bangladesh. It is Bangladesh's first import LNG
terminal and cost an estimated $179.5m; featuring a base-load capacity of 500 million
standard cubic feet of gas a day. The project jointly developed by Excelerate Energy,
US and PETROBANGLA on a build, own and operate basis. The terminal includes a
floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) with about 500 Mscf/d regasification
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capacity and 138,000 cubic meter storage capacity, a subsea buoy and pipeline system
that links it to the onshore pipeline system. The offshore subsea buoy system is used to
provide mooring facility and also serve as a channel to transport natural gas onshore.

Figure 3: State of art view of Moheshkhali Floating LNG terminal (Excelerate

Energy, 2022)

Figure 4: Matarbari Deep Sea Port (Dhaka Tribune, 2020)

2.2.3 Matarbari Deep Sea Port

The deep-sea port in Bangladesh namely Matarbari Port (see Figure 4) is constructed in
Maheshkhali, Cox's Bazar started operation since 2020 (Bangla Tribune, 2020). The
prime focus of the construction project is to import coal and other facilities for the 1200
MW coal power plant. In the initial stage, one multipurpose terminal for coal power
plant is built and one 460-meter container terminal will be constructed by 2026. The
navigational channel confirms the facility to dock container vessels of capacity 8,000
TEU and vessels with draft more than 9 meters (Ferdous & Islam, 2020), thereby
90 Offshore Industry in Bangladesh: Present Status and Future Prospect to Contribute for National Economy

contribute to the advancement of global trade in Bangladesh (Sato, 2021; Sato, 2019;
JICA, 2018) In future, the container terminal is planned to expand in 70 hectares area
with a
berth of 1850 meters with 2.8-million-tonne capacity. According to JICA, the multi-
purpose terminal, will be built on 17 hectares with a 300-meter berth facility having the
capacity to accommodate vessels upto 70000 DWT ensuring 2.25 million tonnes annual
capacity. The port is anticipated to contribute notably in national economy. (Tareq et al,
2021).

2.3 Offshore Renewable Energy Sources

In the quest of attaining the target of zero net carbon emission, the countries worldwide
have to shift their focus on fossil fuel to renewable energy sources to meet the ever-
increasing energy demand. An annual report prepared by hydrocarbon unit of Power,
Energy and Mineral resources ministry on gas production and supply for the fiscal years
2019 to 2020 specified a rapid scarcity of gas reserve to meet the future requirements as
shown in Figure 5. In that case, the use of renewable sources to produce electricity is of
significant importance from the recent context of Bangladesh as electricity production
is now greatly reliant on imported LNG. Biogas, hydropower, solar power and wind
power are the major renewable energy sources.
Offshore wind harnessing mechanisms off the coast of Bay of Bengal hold the best
source of wind energy which can be tapped into to guarantee a diversified portfolio for
renewable energy sources. The unique structure of the Bay can be utilized to our
advantage for anchoring offshore wind farms. The technology is mature enough to be
deployed with minimum risk and maximum efficiency in Bangladesh. Additionally,
highly predictable tidal and wave energy can be considered major sources of harnessing
offshore renewable energy.

2.3.1 Tidal Energy

Considering general tidal wave height, duration, water depth, cost and durability, Bay
of Bengal has excellent prospects for large scale electricity production using tidal
energy extractor. Bangladesh has long coastal areas (More than 800 km) with 4~5 m
tidal height with a large number of rivers passing through the country. The Bay of
Bengal offers a huge tidal opportunity in the Sandwip channel and it endures from
Teknaf region to the Pussur River in Sundarban. It has many large tidal sites and many
channels of low tidal range within a large number of deltaic islands, where barrages and
sluice gates already exist. Thus, the tidal power harnessing potential is significant as the
barrages setups are necessary for creating controlled flow through turbines (tapping
tidal power) which is also required for flood control (Uqaili & Harijan ,2011). This
abolishes the issue of high capital cost needed for cyclone protection. In Bangladesh,
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Sandwip is recognized as one of the most prospective site for tidal energy extraction
(Ahmad & Hasan, 2021; Haque & Khatun, 2017) because of its location which is fairly
distant from the Chittagong mainland with inhabitants around 330,000 on an area of
240 km (Khan & Rasel , 2021; Sikder et al, 2014). A barrage for flood control with 28
sluice gates is constructed around the whole island facilitating a small electricity grid to
link the main commercial parts of the island. More suitable sites are yet to be explored
by future projects through private, government and foreign investments.

Figure 5: Projected gas reserve vs expenditure up to 2031 (HC Unit, 2021)

2.3.2 Offshore Wind Energy

Researches related to the long-term wind flows in Bangladesh, particularly across
islands and along the southern coastal belts specify that the average speed of wind
remains within 3.0 to 4.5 m/s within the months March to September and within 1.7 to
2.3 m/s for the rest of the year (Saifullah ,2016). Offshore wind mills can be a good
option to harness wind energy to generate electricity and improving pumping facilities
in the islands and coastal areas (Amrutha et al., 2017). Several agencies like Grameen
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Shakti, GTZ (a German NGO), BRAC have already installed a number of small wind
turbines in different coastal zones adapting the foreign technology. Grameen Shakti has
installed wind turbine at Chakaria Shrimp farm while BRAC has installed 11 small
turbines at several remote coastal areas to meet the local energy demand.

2.3.3 Offshore Wave Energy

One of the most important renewable energy sources might be the ocean wave and this
energy source will able to provide permanent and efficient solution. Promising new
wave energy generators have recently started operation in Europe. Coastal environment
of Bangladesh is favorable for wave energy during ebb and tide period starting from
late March to early October, power generation by using wave from Bay of Bangle
within this time is highly effective and result in maximum efficiency (Aarnes ,2015). In
southwestern regions, the maximum average wave height is recorded over 2 m with an
absolute maximum of 2.4 m. The wave periods varied from 3 to 4 seconds for waves of
about 0.5 meter and nearly 6 seconds for waves of about 2 meters (Nandi & Ghosh
,2009).
A 30MW electrical power plant is proposed which is predicted to be established at a
cost of 4 million USD, very little maintenance cost and no fuel cost. The present
hypothetical shortage of 1500MW power in Bangladesh can be mitigated using the
proposed plant extending only 50 square kilometer offshore area (Haque et al., 2019).

3. Blue Economy and Challenges of Offshore Industry

The sustainable usage of offshore and marine resources termed as blue economy has
gained much attention worldwide in the twenty first century. Its major strategy is to
harness the potential of oceans, seas and coasts for sustainable economic growth and
job assurance. Blue economy mainly focuses on the fisheries and aquaculture, natural
resources and energy, tourism and shipping sectors. The effective usage of offshore
resources and infrastructure development is a must for economic development of the
coastal countries like Bangladesh.
Initially government of Bangladesh has adopted delta plan 2100 and acting accordingly
to make it fruitful. However, the fluctuating oil and gas price, recent unstable economic
condition worldwide affected the interest of potential IOCs to continue exploration.
Unavailability of reliable seismic survey data, lack of infrastructure, and local technical
experts increased the exploration expense challenging the viability of projects. In
addition, the existing foreign investment policies has also failed to attract investors. As
a consequence, KrisEnergy, Santos and Posco decided to abandon their interest in the
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offshore block SS-11, DS-12 terminating the production share contract between 2019 to
2021. The offshore renewable energy sector is also suffering and the progress in
projects is lacking far behind hindering the expected outcome.

4. Recommendation
Bangladesh government need to highlight on the suitable offshore infrastructure
development, update foreign investment policies and integrate sustainable green
measures to continue smooth economic progress.

4.1 Viable Offshore Structures

Bay of Bengal has water depth in between 20m – 200 m in shallow sea blocks and in
between 200 – 2000m in deep sea block. Considering the facts, the listed offshore
structures in Table 1 are recommended to install for efficient explorations and storage.
Table 1: Suitable Offshore structures for construction consideration near the Bay of
Bengal.
Structure Required Water Depth Suitability
Jacket Up to 150 m 
Jack-up Less than 150 meters 
Semi-submersible 300m 1500m 
TLP 200m -3000 m 
GBS 13.7m – 25.9m 
Spar Presently used up to 1000m, although existing 
technology can extend up to 2500m
FPSO Up to 2600m 
Selection and construction of the suitable offshore structures would be of much
importance for ensuring the highly expensive project feasibility. Considering the depth
variation, all the above-mentioned categories could all be nominated at the different
block sites of the Bay of Bengal for oil and gas exploration.

4.2 Improvement of Foreign Investment Policies

Bangladesh, being the country with emerging economy constantly need to prioritize the
foreign direct investment (FDI). FDI is considered as the key source of economic
growth and transformation of developing, emerging and transitional economy stated
94 Offshore Industry in Bangladesh: Present Status and Future Prospect to Contribute for National Economy

countries. Foreign investment policies need to be designed in such a way that can attract
attention to the potential foreign investors in this sector. The investors will choose
Bangladesh for their next for investment destination as the country conducted Double
Taxation, Bilateral Investment Agreement, Treaties etc. to protect the interest of foreign
investors (Mold, 2003).
Moreover to attract the attention of international oil companies (IOCs),
PETROBANGLA already assigned consultant to update the Model product sharing
contracts (PSC) (upstream, 2022). Besides, the following measures can be adopted:
 Rigorous study and research to be carried out via quality surveying the
geographical aspects, before representing evidence to potential investors.
 Developing skills and expertise of the native workforce who can contribute
equally with foreign workers and adapt to foreign working ethics.
 Smart return policies that ensure the benefit of both national and international
perspectives.
 Giving projects to suitors who will tone global relationships (Mahmud &
Shahriar ,2022).
 Providing proper incentives to involved parties.

4.3 Sustainable and Green Focus

Presently, environment conservation has become a key focus among world leaders and
evidently the impacts of negligence would affect badly if proper actions are not taken.
Countries like Bangladesh formulated the blue economy strategy with the objective to
promote smart, sustainable and inclusive growth and employment opportunities through
utilization of the drivers of maritime economy such as seas, coasts and other maritime
resources. Thus, sustainable and green measures should be integrated to the industry for
the advancement in the long run. Proper feasibility study is vital before launching a new
project at some specific site in the offshore sector such that installation of tidal, wave
and offshore wind energy extractors, launching new offshore blocks, port, terminals,
gas fields to evade adverse impact on environment.

5. Conclusion
Cited as one of the most consistently growing and fastest economies in the world,
Bangladesh has garnered a massive reputation. By slowly progressing through the ranks
among developing nations, it cracked into the Middle-income nation category in 2015
and currently holds the 41st rank in global GDP index in 2022. Due to the climate
change, financial and economic uncertainty as well as ever increasing struggle for the
scarcity of natural resources, major global challenge of the 21st century is to ensure