State-run Bangladesh Petroleum Exploration and Production Company Limited (Bapex) has announced its decision to abandon the Development Well 5 of Fenchuganj Gas Field as no reserves were found even after an eight month long effort.
The failure was considered as a unique incident in the country’s history as the well was believed to a large reservoir of natural gas to meet the country’s growing demands in power generation and industrial usages.
“We have drilled some 3,100 metres [into the well] and the analysis of the data found showed no signs of existence of gas. Now, the field crew and experts are carrying out few tasks, including preparing a well log report, before abandoning the site,” Bapex Managing Director MA Baki told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.
“The drilling location was ‘faulty’. The rig was stuck during drilling. There might have been a problem with the well location which resulted in a failure in the first attempt,” a Bapex official said seeking anonymity.
Bapex officials said: “Exploratory wells can fail as the success ratio for such ventures were 3:1, but it was impossible for a development well to fail. This site was supposed to supply 15 to 20 million cubic feet of natural gas per day.”
The drilling operation cost of the Well-5, situated at Bhatera in Kulaura upazila of Moulvibazar, stood Tk76 crore
“This can happen, but the location should have been selected more cautiously. Such precautions could have saved a lot of money,” Professor Ijaz Hossain from the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.
The Fenchuganj gas field, located in the country’s north-eastern region, has been supplying around 38 million cubic feet of gas per day from three wells to the national grid.
The field’s recoverable gas reserve is around 381 billion cubic feet (bcf), of which 100bcf has been extracted so far.
Earlier, Bapex dug three explorations well in Comilla’s Srikail separately in 2004, Sunetra structure in Sunamganj-Netrakona in 2012, Kapasia in Gazipur in 2011 but could not find any gas reserves at the sites.
