State-owned Bangladesh petroleum exploration and production company (Bapex) expects a natural gas zone in Shariatpur following a 2-D seismic survey.
An internal meeting will be held next Monday at Bapex Bhaban to discuss the survey, an official said. “After getting the positive sign, the company will drill at the prospective site, if there is gas available, it would substantially add to the country’s natural gas resources.”
Bapex General Manager (Geological Division) Md Alamgir Hossain told Bangladesh Post, ‘We prepared a map after analysis of 2-D seismic survey report and we found some confusion in a few areas. We are going to do more analysis. When we are quite sure, we will give a proposal for drilling.” “As per soil structure in accordance with the survey results, it could be a prospective zone for gas, but it cannot be confirmed until and unless the well is drilled. However we are hoping”-he added.
The official said, Chinese energy exploration firm Sinopec has carried out the seismic survey in Shariatpur, and 16 other districts in three onshore blocks to delineate hydrocarbon prospects, from January 2018 and December 2018 assigned by Bapex. The Chinese firm carried out around 11,000 line kilometre 2D seismic survey.
The other locations are Dhaka, Gazipur and Narayanganj, Munshiganj, Manikganj, Tangail, Rajbari, Faridpur, Madaripur, Gopalganj, Barishal, Pirojpur, Jhalakathhi, Barguna, and Bagerhat. Upon completion of the survey, it has submitted documents and survey results to the Bapex recently. Bapex believes that after drilling the prospective exploration wells on the basis of the identified leads, it could play a significant role in mitigating the huge demand for gas. If commercially-viable gas is found, it would be the 27th natural gas field discovered so far in the country.
Natural gas plays an important role in the country’s economy. It is an environment-friendly fuel, which undergoes clean and odorless combustion. It is widely used as fuel for domestic, industrial, power plants and agricultural use. Bangladesh currently faces a shortage of around 1,000 million cubic feet of gas per day (mmcfd). The country's overall natural gas output is hovering at around 3,125 million cubic feet a day (mmcfd), of which 2,539 mmcfd comes from local gas fields and the remaining 586 mmcfd comes as re-gasified LNG after imports, according to Petrobangla's latest statistics.
The official said, the natural gas reserves of Bangladesh, according to an estimate, is around 16 trillion cubic feet and may be exhausted within a decade. However, the gas demand is increasing day by day.The Petrobangla official said, Bangladesh’s natural gas demand projection for current fiscal year (FY) 2018-19 has been revised up by 8.5% to 1.35 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) on rising LNG imports. The previous projection of natural gas demand was around 1.24 Tcf.
Earlier, State minister for power and energy, Nasrul Hamid said, the country’s gas fields have already started depleting as forecast, and the entire gas will be exhausted within the next 8-9 years. ‘We don’t have any new discovery in recent years. This has happened in many countries as a natural course.’Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has urged the energy division to conduct more seismic surveys in the country for more gas exploration.
According to Petrobangla, the demand will rise to 4,770 million cubic feet in 2024-25, whereas the production capacity will be 2,196 miilion cubic feet from the current gas fields in the country. In next fiscal year the demand and production capacity will be 4,910 and 1,702 million cubic feet. In the same way, demand and production ratio will be 5,200 and 1,054 million cubic feet in 2028-29.Gradually it will decrease, and if the new gas fields are not discovered during this period, gas production will be zero in 2041.
