State-run Bangladesh Oil, Gas & Mineral Corporation (Petrobangla) will sign a deal with Mining Associates Private Ltd (MAPL), an Indian company, to conduct a feasibility study of coal-bed methane (CBM) extraction at Jamalganj coalfield.
“We will implement a feasibility study on the extraction of CBM at Jamalganj coalfield. Petrobangla will implement the project with its own funds,” the project director, Petrobangla General Manager Md Akhtaruzzaman, told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.
The feasibility study will provide necessary information on CBM and the potential to generate power from it.
The agreement is likely to be inked by the end of the month.
CBM is a naturally occurring methane gas found in coal seams. It is the methane usually found in coal, emitted from the face of coal mines.
The Cabinet Committee on Purchase recently approved a proposal from the Energy Division to award the West Bengal-based firm to conduct the study.
The company will get Tk19.13 crore to carry out the study.
Petrobangla floated an international tender to appoint a consultant last year. Nine foreign companies submitted proposals for the job and six were approved at the 455th board meeting of Petrobangla, officials said.
There is a high possibility of finding methane gas in the field, the Energy Division proposal said. The methane may be used for power generation.
CBM has been considered a safety hazard in underground mines, but due to the latest technological innovations it has now become a significant energy resource.
CBM can be extracted through drilling into underground coal without coal being mined, thus accessing alternative natural gas reserves.
The Jamalganj coalfield was discovered by a UN-Pakistani mineral survey team between 1962 and 1965 during a geological and geophysical survey in the Jamalganj-Jaipurhat area.
Jamalganj coalfield, with an estimated reserve of about 1.053 billion tonnes of coal, is the deepest and largest coalfield in Bangladesh.
It has seven coal seams in the depth range between 600 metres and 1,100 metres below the ground surface. The coal layer is assumed to be 40 metres wide.
Compared to other coalfields in Bangladesh, with coal occurring at 150 to 500m depth, Jamalganj coal is considered to be too deep to be exploited by conventional underground or open pit mining.
Extracting coal-bed methane from Jamalganj field is considered a viable option for exploiting the coalfield.
The government has estimated that five coal mines – at Barapukuria, Dighipara, Phulbari, Jamalganj and Khalashpir – likely hold a reserve of approximately 30 billion tonnes.
