Gas crisis hits the city dwellers due to fall in gas supply mainly because of Petrobangla’s failure to extract gas from the two wells of Titas Gas field in Brahmanbaria district.
The Russian company, Gazprom, was supposed to complete drilling either of the two wells within June while the state-run company – Bapex – the other.
Gazprom suspended drilling the 20 No. well in Titas Gas field from March 26 to April 13 since its rig got stuck between 2200 metres and 2350 metres below the surface.
The gas company which started formal drilling from March 02, 2013 suspended its activities, attributing the reason to the critical soil formation of the well.
The drilling resumed on April 14 by sidetracking. The boaring reached 3532 metres underground when water surfaced in the well mainly due to faulty drilling.
On June 16, Bapex began digging the 18 No. well up to 3300 metres and was extracting gas experimentally, but a day later, water also surfaced in the well that stopped the gas production.
Petrobangla gave the version that increased supply of gas to the electricity generation and ongoing overhauling at Bangura Gas field in Comilla are responsible for the gas crisis.
On the first day of Ramadan, consumers in many areas of Dhaka and Narayanganj faced shortage of gas supply.
Similar allegations are also coming from the inhabitants of Azimpur, Tejturibazar, Rajabazar, Mirpur, Rampura, Moghbazar Shewrapara Rayerbazar and Banasri areas of the capital.
Talking with the Dhaka Tribune, Rakiba begum, a resident of Rampura area, said: “We are breaking our fasts with iftar bought from outside as iftar items cannot be prepared at home for low pressure in gas supply over the last few days.”
Salma Khatun, another resident of Mohammadpur area, told the Dhaka Tribune she even would not be able to prepare Iftar and supper for her family due to severe gas crisis.
The low supply of gas has also hit the CNG statins across the capital.
Bangladesh Gas Field Company Limited (BGFCL) Managing Director Shafiqur Rahman told the Dhaka Tribune they held a meeting yesterday at Petrobangla with a delegation of Gazprom.
The meeting focused on where from the water was surfacing in the 20 No. well.
“If the water pops up from the upper layer below the surface, Gazprom will pay for the remedial work, and if it is form lower layer, BGFCL will foot the bill,” said Shafiqur Rahman.
He added that the remedial work for the 18 No. well is underway.
BGFCL targeted a 60 mmcfd gas production from the two wells by June but it would be delayed, he said.
The country will incur a loss of around Tk 300m due to faulty procedure undertaken by Gazprom for gas extraction, said an official of BGFCL.
Petrobangla, the state-run Oil, Gas and Mineral Resources Corporation, has increased gas supply from 800 mmcfd to 1000 mmcfd for power generation.
The move came after the government asked Petrobangla to ensure uninterrupted power supply during Iftar, Tarabi and Sahri.
According to Petrobangla, the current demand of gas is 3,000 mmcfd across the country while its production stands at 2,250 mmcfd.