The use of energy at both households and industries will undergo a major shift in the next decade as Bangladesh is increasingly making liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) widely available, LPG facility providers said.

The demand for LPG is growing exponentially in the country. It needs about 600,000 tonnes of LPG to meet the current demand, which is projected to be more than 1,400,000 tonnes by 2022.

The rising energy demand and the projected shortage of natural gas are bolstering the growth of LPG use at both household and industry levels.

“The market players in Bangladesh have realised that the use of energy is changing as the government liberalised the business for the private sector to fulfil the growing demand,” said Philippe Bechtel, country director of Parlym, an engineering and procurement services company of France.

He was speaking to The Daily Star on the closing day of a two-day South Asian LPG Summit-2019 at the International Conven-tion City Bashundhara in Dhaka yesterday. Bechtel, whose company provides engineering and construction services to LPG facilities in Bangladesh, said semi-urban and rural households have already moved away from traditional fuels such as wood and teak and are adopting LPG rapidly. “So, a good opportunity has been created to help Bangladesh companies set up LPG stations and different types of facilities,” he said.

Luc Zecchinon, managing director of Design Engineering and Consulting, a Belgian company, said they are also helping companies in Bangladesh.

“I think it is only a matter of time to shift from the existing use of energy to LPG in households and industries,” he said.

He said the fair would help develop business-to-business relationship between service providers and clients.

Abdur Rahman, project director (oil and gas) of Unigas, said the fair helps enhance sustainable business development opportunities across South Asia.

A total of 80 local and foreign companies from Bangladesh, the US, China, India, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and European countries as well as 200 foreign representatives took part in the summit.

The power, energy and mineral resources ministry and the LPG Operators’ Association of Bangladesh organised the event.

Fonte: https://www.thedailystar.net/business/news/lpg-becoming-vital-source-energy-1710715