After the success in the Koilashtila Gas field in discovery of new gas, Petrobangla has now started a workover operation in the Semutang Gas field.
According to official sources, Bangladesh Petroleum Exploration and Production Company Limited (Bapex), a subsidiary of the state-owned Petrobangla, started the job on Tuesday.
Bapex managing director Mohammad Ali formally inaugurated the workover operation at the gas field, located in Manikchari area of hill district Khagrachari in the country’s south-east.
According to official sources, the Semutang Gas field was originally discovered by a British company in 1969. But the production of gas from the field was not found to be commercially viable and it was abandoned.
Later Bapex drilled a number of wells in the gas field and the first gas production came in 2009 with daily production of 15 million cubic feet.
But within a few years, when the daily production fell to 4-5 MMCFD, Cairn Energy, a foreign oil company, was engaged in the field.
Again the state-owned Bapex was given the responsibility of the gas field when Russian company Gazprom was engaged to conduct well No-6 in the field.
Officials said the Bapex will now conduct workover operation at Well No-5 which was synchronized with Well No-6.
An official of Bapex informed that it may take 2-3 months to complete the workover operation to find a new production capacity from the gas field.
Petrobangla chairman Nazmul Ahsan said that the workover operation was undertaken as part of the government’s plan to extract more gas from internal sources.
Petrobangla discovered about 20 MMCFD gas from a similar well at Kailashtila field through workover operation which started flowing into the national grid from Monday, boosting the country’s overall supply of the fuel.
Sylhet Gas Field Limited (SGFL), a subsidiary of Petrobangla discovered the new gas on 2 May at the Kailashtila field from an abandoned well through a work-over process. Bapex conducted the workover operation at the field.
So far, seven wells have been drilled in the Kailashtila gas field, of which two are now producing about 29 MMCFD gas.
Energy industry insiders said the new, but small, discovery will give a minimum relief to the government when the country has been experiencing a huge gas shortage of more than 600 MMCFD.
The country’s total supply now stands at 2950 MMCFD against a demand for over 3600 MMCFD.
Of this, the country’s 28 gas fields can supply 2200 MMCFD while the remaining 750 MMCFD is met by imported liquefied natural gas (LNG).
The recent Russia-Ukraine war made the global import market volatile pushing up the LNG price to over $37 per MMBtu from below $10.
As a result, the government has to spend a huge amount of foreign currency to import the natural gas, said the gas industry sources.
Source: United News of Bangladesh