Long-term goal is to secure, sustainable, competitive, affordable energy for all of Europe’s citizens while transitioning to a low-carbon, climate-friendly economy. The European Commission today set out its strategy to achieve what it terms a “resilient Energy Union with a forward-looking climate change policy.” The proposal sets out — in five interrelated policy dimensions — the goals of an energy union. The initiative also entails the detailed steps the Juncker Commission will take to achieve it, including: new legislation to redesign and overhaul the electricity market; ensuring more transparency in gas contracts; substantially developing regional cooperation as an important step towards an integrated market, with a stronger regulated framework; new legislation to ensure the su...

At long last, the joint venture of US oil major ConocoPhillips and Norway’s Statoil looks set to be awarded all three of the deep sea blocks in the Bay of Bengal it desires, with the Cabinet Economic Affairs Committee slated to consider their proposal in its meeting on Wednesday. Earlier, the government’s decision was to award only two blocks to the US-Norwegian JV. But now the government seems to be backtracking from its earlier stance that no single company or joint venture will get more than two blocks in the deep sea. According to...

The country’s tax administration has demanded a total of Tk 19,594 crore from four major gas distribution companies, alleging that the companies dodged the amount in value-added tax and supplementary duty from 2009 to 2014. Officials of the National Board of Revenue told that Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Company, Karnaphuli Gas Transmission and Distribution Company, Bakhrabad Gas Transmission and Distribution Company and Jalalabad Gas Transmission and Distribution Company dodged the taxes between July 2009 and March 2014, reports the New ...

Bangladesh Petroleum Corp (BPC) has issued an international tender to sell 170,000 barrels of naphtha for March 11.13 loading from Chittagong, a company official said on Monday. The tender will close on Feb. 18, with validity up to Feb. 26. The offer came at a time when the Asian naphtha crack extended losses for a third straight day on Friday to reach its lowest since Jan. 30, dragged down by the stronger Brent crude price. State-owned BPC sold a same-size cargo to Socar Trading at premiums of $3.29 a barrel to Singapore quotes for Nov. 27-29 l...

India's biggest gas importer Petronet LNG is one of the companies shortlisted to build a liquefied natural gas terminal in neighbouring Bangladesh, a company executive said on Thursday. "They called for expressions of interest and we participated and have been shortlisted by the Bangladesh government," Managing Director A.K. Balyan told reporters in New Delhi. Balyan said that the company selected will be responsible for sourcing of gas, building and operating of the terminal, which will have a capacity of 2.5 to 5 million tonnes per annum.

Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Company on Tuesday came up with a proposal for raising natural gas price by up to 122 per cent following a verbal order from the government to set an asset value of Tk 25 for one thousand cubic feet of gas. Titas managing director, Nowshad Islam, at a hearing on its proposal, did not mention the name of the person who issued the verbal order that prompted all the gas companies to submit their proposals for raising the prices of methane gas. The energy division on February 23, 2014 issued a lett...