State-owned BAPEX is set to start drilling a gas well in Shariatpur district from next month. Some 10 million cubic feet of gas per day is expected to be added to the national grid from this well.
State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid on Thursday disclosed this through his verified Facebook page.
The State Minister wrote, “Bangladesh Petroleum Exploration and Production Company Limited (BAPEX) has successfully hoisted Bijoy-10 rig mast on Thursday to drill well No-1 in Shariatpur. We are expecting that the drilling work will start from the first week of November. After drilling, 10 million cubic feet of gas per day (mmcfd) from this well is likely to be added to the national grid.”
“The present government under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has added 1000 million cubic feet of gas to the national grid in the last 12 years. We need more gas to accelerate the country's economy and industrialisation in days to come. we are giving utmost importance to domestic energy exploration and production. By 2025, we will drill 46 more wells. It is expected that more than 618 million cubic feet of gas per day will be produced from these wells,” he added.
Earlier Mahbub Hossain, Senior Secretary of Energy and Mineral Resources Division, said, “We are going for deep drilling in old gas fields in the hope that reserves will increase. Besides, initiatives have also been taken to conduct exploration in the hilly areas. We are expecting that the gas production will be increased by another 1,000 million cubic feet per day by 2027-2028.”
Energy and Mineral Resources Division officials said that Petrobangla and Bapex have plans to dig exploration wells in the Chattogram Hill Tracts soon. Currently, a well is being drilled at Srikail. Moreover, workover work is now going on at Biyanibazar-1 and Tobgi-1 in Bhola district. Digging has started in one well in Bhola and some other wells will also be drilled.
According to Petrobangla sources, Bangladesh Petroleum Exploration and Production Company (BAPEX) will explore for gas in the Chattogram Hill Tracts in a joint venture with foreign companies. Three companies have already expressed interest in this regard.
Ariel, an Uzbekistan company, has already submitted an interest letter. They have offered to work with Bapex on exploration, development and production in the 22A and 22B blocks of the CHT. Besides, the multinational company is keen to invest in Bhola gas field. Ariel has a drilling rig in Bangladesh.
On the other hand, the Energy and Mineral Resources Division has taken an initiative to conduct 1000 line kilometre 2-D and 70 line kilometre 3-D seismic surveys in the 2022-23 financial year for gas exploration.
Currently, Bangladesh Petroleum Exploration and Production Company Limited (BAPEX) under Petrobangla is conducting two 2-D seismic and a 3-D seismic surveys. Besides, Sylhet Gas Fields Limited (SGFL) is carrying out two 3-D seismic surveys. Bangladesh Gas Fields Company Limited (BGFCL) has also planned to conduct a 3-D seismic survey.
Due to an acute shortage of natural gas, production in industries is being hampered. Other consumers like power plants, fertilizer factories, CNG filling stations, residential and other sectors in the country are also suffering from gas crunch.
Experts said, the issue of giving priority to domestic oil and gas exploration to ease dependence on import has long been neglected. Due to an increase in gas prices in the global market, an acute crisis has been created.
According to a recent report by the Energy Division, production from the country's fields could drop by 18.4 crore cubic feet of gas per day in 2022-23 if no major gas fields are discovered. Daily production may fall by 43.5 crore cubic feet in 2023-24.
Sources said, the country's total proven and potential gas reserves are 29.54 trillion cubic feet in 27 commercial gas fields. According to Petrobangla's data, 20 trillion cubic feet of total gas reserves had already been extracted by 2021.
Currently, the country's gas fields produce about 900 billion cubic feet of gas per year. If gas is produced in this way, natural gas can be produced in the country only for the next 10 years.