State-owned Sylhet Gas Fields Limited (SGFL) is hopeful of supplying seven to eight million cubic feet of gas and 100 barrels of condensate daily from a temporary closed well at Beanibazar in Sylhet.
The gas reserves found on Thursday morning by DST (drill stem test) of the well No. 1 of Beanibazar gas field. Total estimated gas reserves of the well is around 70BCF (Billion Cubic Feet). The new gas is likely to add to the national grid by this month.
“Although not too much in terms of the quantity, it is to the relief of Bangladesh, which is suffering from an acute gas crisis,” an energy division official said.
Engr. Mohammad Abdul Jalil Pramanik, General Manager (Operation) & Project Director of Sylhet Gas Fields Limited told Bangladesh Post, "The presence of gas has been confirmed by DST, which started on Thursday. It shows at least seven to eight million cubic feet gas flow there. Test in the well will continue until Sunday.
“We hope there has been a reserve of 70BCF gas along with condensate. However, after completion of production test we will get the accurate figure and hope for increased gas reserve. We will be able to start production from this well within 20 days after completing some other tests,” he added.
According to Sylhet Gas Fields Limited sources, there are two wells in Beanibazar gas field. Production started in 1999 from well number 1. It was closed in 2014. Production started again at the beginning of 2016 and production stopped at the end of that year.
Drilling started again on September10 in this well, which had been temporarily closed.
Apart from the Beanibazar well, under SGFL, drilling of Kailashtila-8 and Goainghat-10 wells in Golapganj and laying of pipeline in Rashidpur is going on.
SGFL's gas production will further increase after the completion of these projects. Besides, three-dimensional seismic survey in Dupitila, Batchia, Hararganj, Jokiganj and Sylhet South under two projects, Bianibazar Field and Block-13 and 14 is nearly completed.
Stating that more wells are being drilled under the SGFL, an official said, "This will add a significant amount of gas to the national grid by 2023. After the implementation of all the projects, daily gas production from Sylhet Gas Fields Limited is likely to increase by 164 million cubic feet by 2025."
In May last, SGFL had officially started supplying about 19 million cubic feet of gas per day (mmcfd) to the national grid. The supply came from well no 7 of the Kailash Tila gas field, declared temporary closed earlier.
At present, the Company has under its umbrella 5 gas fields namely Sylhet (Haripur), Kailashtilla, Rashidpur, Beanibazar and Chhatak with 11 producing gas wells. A condensate fractionation plant at Rashidpur has been installed and started production from 01 August, 2009.
Fractionation plants having capacity 3750 barrel per day was installed at Rashidpur to produce motor spirit, octane, diesel and kerosene.
The daily demand for natural gas in the country is around 400 crore cubic feet, while production capacity is 376 crore cubic feet including LNG, with Petrobangla currently supplying only 260 crore cubic feet.
Due to the acute crisis of natural gas, production in industries is being hampered. Other consumers like power plants, fertilizer factories, CNG stations, residential and other sectors in the country are also suffering from a gas crunch.
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.
Currently there are 28 gas fields discovered in the country. The proven reserves in these gas fields are 21.4 trillion square feet (tcf).
Currently, the country's gas fields produce about 900 billion cubic feet of gas per year.