Bangladesh foresees surge in natural gas electricity production by 2032

The power sector accounted for a 39% share in the total natural gas consumption in 2023.

Total electricity generation from natural gas in Bangladesh is expected to grow to 93 terawatt-hours (TWh) by 2032 from 70 TWh in 2023 driven by the government’s plans to build more gas-fired power plants.

In a report, BMI said the country’s natural gas market is “small yet fast-growing” with the power sector as the largest natural gas consumer, comprising 39% of the total consumption last year.

“Unlike neighbouring India, Bangladesh does not have extensive coal resources or coal-fired power generation capacity and thus needs to rely more on natural gas for power generation,” the report read.

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“Slowing gas demand growth has been at the top of the government's agenda, yet we expect further upside risks to gas demand from the power sector,” it added.

Despite the positive outlook on natural gas use in the power sector, BMI said the country’s natural gas supply concerns will be worse because of insufficient investment in upstream exploration activities.

Whilst Petrobangla shared its plan to drill 46 wells between 2023 and 2024, in February last year, there has not been much progress, according to BMI.

Natural gas production in the country has consistently declined since its peak of 27.6 billion cubic metres (bcm) in 2016. Its production is expected to decline by 3% annually and reach below 20 bcm by 2028.