New Delhi: India is considering Bangladesh’s request for additional diesel supplies, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has said.
This comes at a time when Bangladesh is facing a severe energy crisis with many parts of the country suffering from prolonged power cuts. Under the circumstances, Bangladesh’s power, energy and mineral resources minister Iqbal Hasan Mahmud has sought additional diesel from India.
MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal responded to this and said India was considering Bangladesh’s request while keeping its own requirements in mind.
India’s energy cooperation with Bangladesh is ongoing and that the additional demand is being assessed based on India’s own requirements, refining capacity and availability, he said, as reported by abp LIVE.
‘Our energy cooperation with Bangladesh is ongoing. As far as the additional demand is concerned, we are considering it keeping in mind our own requirements, our refining capacity and availability on our side,’ Jaiswal said.
Rural areas of Bangladesh’s capital, Dhaka, have been experiencing power cuts lasting between eight and 10 hours, the Dhaka Tribune has reported.
This has reportedly prompted the Tarique Rahman government to direct shopping malls, shops and markets to close by 8 pm to conserve electricity.
On August 16, the country’s finance minister Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury said that the country could take at least two years to resolve the energy crisis.
Constructing a floating LNG terminal would take around one-and-a-half to two years, making it difficult to resolve the crisis until then, the minister said.
With power generation declining, public anger has reportedly grown in the country, with the government ordering load-shedding. Electricity distribution companies in several districts have sought assistance from police headquarters and law-enforcement agencies to strengthen security at their offices.
Bangladesh’s power minister has acknowledged the government’s limited capacity to deal with the crisis, saying there is no alternative to managing load-shedding.
“I just want to say that we are working. At this time of crisis, I cannot do anything, because now I cannot extract gas, and without an FSRU (Floating Storage and Regasification Unit), I cannot extract even the gas that I have,” he said.
This has forced Bangladesh to turn to India for more diesel.