New gas has been found in an abandoned well at ‘Saldanadi gas field’ in Brahmanbaria district.
Bangladesh Petroleum Exploration and Production Company Limited-Bapex discovered the new gas layer during workover of the well.
Currently, gas is being extracted daily from the well on an experimental basis at pressure of 500 PSI. Officials expect commercial production from the well likely to start this week.
“Although not too much in terms of the amount, it is to the relief of Bangladesh, which is suffering an acute gas crisis. On the other hand, if gas is found in a new field, it is a matter of time given to the pipeline. However, there are pipelines, process plants with other facilities in Saldanadi. As a result, there is no additional work in supplying gas to the national grid,” an energy division official said.
Mohammad Ali, Managing Director of Bapex on Friday told Bangladesh Post, “Saldanadi 2 gas field was declared abandoned a long time ago. Earlier, gas was extracted from the ground at a depth of 2435 meters. Bapex discovered the new level by drilling around 110 meters through a workover. The new layer is 2535 m to 2545 m thick.
“Currently the gas is being produced experimentally. It will take about 2-3 more days to complete the testing. Then hopefully it will be possible to supply this gas to the national grid. We expect around 4 to 5 million cubic feet of gas to be produced from the well per day. However, more experiments are needed to find out how much gas there is and how much gas can be extracted daily,” he added.
Bangladesh is passing through a very crucial time due to the gas crisis. After the CNG filling station, gas supply to the industry has been cut off for 4 hours daily from April 12. On the other hand, the price of gas in the international market is increasing. Moreover, the gas transmission and distribution companies have applied to Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) to increase the price of gas by 116 percent.
State-owned Bapex has done the drilling work using its own financing and technology worth only taka 5 crore. The field is currently extracting 2 million cubic feet of gas daily.
Saldanadi Gas Field was discovered in 1996 at Kashba in Brahmanbaria and its commercial operation started on 28 March 1998 by BAPEX.
