Raihanul Abedin

Who is Raihanul Abedin?

Major Muhammad Raihanul Abedin, is a former military officer of the Bangladesh Army and an energy, power and utilities engineer. He was the former PSC Director of the Bangladesh Oil, Gas and Mineral Corporation. Working on behalf of the government of Bangladesh, he oversaw all energy production treaties with various foreign energy companies, including Enron Corporation, Niko Resources, and Tullow Oil.

Abedin initiated the $230 million deal with Unocal Corporation in 2004, after getting approval from Prime Minister Khaleda Zia. He was also a senior National Committee Member for International Clean Cities program of the United States Department of Energy in Bangladesh. Bangladesh was getting very polluted due to extreme use of fuels. In 2001, Abedin was the first to initiate the national plan to decrease the use of using liquid fuels, by introducing natural gas conversion. He thought if cars could be converted to use cooking gas instead of rather harmful fuels, the carbon emission would decrease exponentially. He was given the permission by the Prime Minister Khaleda Zia to carry out his plans. As a result, Asian Development Bank funded his scheme and today more than 80% of Bangladeshi vehicles are run on gas which has lessened pollution significantly.