Energy Adviser Mohammad Fouzul Kabir Khan on Friday ruled out any possibility of providing new gas connections to households in the country.

“Even if you wait till doomsday [Qiyamat], there’s no chance of getting residential gas connections,” he said while speaking to journalists after visiting two gas wells in Golapganj upazila of Sylhet.

Mentioning that pipeline gas is being wasted in households, the adviser remarked, “If I had the authority, I would disconnect gas supply to every house in Dhaka.”

In response to a question as residents of Sylhet, where gas is extracted, have long demanded domestic gas connections, the adviser said that when industries are struggling to get gas, “providing it to homes is simply a waste.”

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He mentioned that the government will supply cylinder gas at a price of Tk 800 in areas like Sylhet where gas is being extracted.

Fouzul noted that gas production is declining by around 200 million cubic feet annually, while imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) are increasing. "We are trying to ramp up local gas production to reduce dependence on imports," he said.

Regarding Friday's inspection, he said Kailashtila-7 and Sylhet-10 wells are currently supplying a combined 16 million cubic feet of gas per day to the national grid.

The adviser was accompanied by Md Khalid Ahmed, additional secretary (operations) of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources; Md Soheb Ahmed, engineer and managing director of BAPEX/SGFL and other officials and employees involved in the operation of the wells.