About 20 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) of gas is set to be added to the national grid, as full-fledged extraction from a new level at Well No 4 of the Srikail gas field in Comilla's Muradnagar upazila will soon begin.
The authorities said extraction may begin within in a day or two, and the gas could generate a huge amount of revenue for the government if it can be used in the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) sector.
"Previously, experimental extraction from the level has provided 6-7 mmcfd. From our work over 55 days, we are estimating that the level has a total of 30 to 40 billion cubic feet of gas,” said Engineer Md Shahjahan, in-charge of the gas field, on Friday.
Only local technology has been used for the extraction, he added.
Two wells are currently operating in the gas field out of four and the extraction first started there in 2013. Bangladesh has 27 gas fields, with the latest in Bheduria of Bhola discovered in October 2017.
Bangladesh Petroleum Exploration and Production Company Limited (Bapex) General Manager (Geology) Md Alamgir Hossain -- regarding an earlier discovery of another well in Brahmanbaria's Srikail gas field -- told Dhaka Tribune the well may help supply 10-12 mmcfd gas to the national grid.
According to him, the gas reserve was found at a depth of 3,065 metres.
Bangladesh currently has demand for 3.7 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd), whereas the gas supply is 2.7bcfd. As a result, the government started importing LNG from April last year.
Commending Bapex on its success with the well, geologist Badrul Imam said: “The extraction of gas from the well is immensely encouraging. This is not the first time Bapex achieved something like this.
“There are still doubts about capability. How long does [Bapex] have to prove its worth when working on the onshore fields?” he questioned.
At a time when the government is focusing more on LNG, the addition to domestic gas supply is a relief, Badrul Imam said.
Currently, Bapex is producing about 110 mmcf of gas per day from seven onshore gas fields - Saldanadi, Fenchuganj, Shahbazpur, Semutang, Sundalpur, Srikail and Rupganj.
Bapex’s performance has been widely criticized by the government, with Nasrul Hamid, state minister of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources, in December warning of retrenching manpower in the oil and gas exploration company over substandard performance.
The state minister also warned that the country’s gas reserves would be exhausted in a decade.
Early this year, the government engaged Russian energy company Gazprom to explore two gas fields in Bhola-- both discovered by Bapex.
