Fresh gas reserve found in Beanibazar abandoned well

Sylhet Gas Fields Limited has discovered a fresh gas reserve in an abandoned well in the Beanibazar gas field amid a deepening gas crisis hitting the country's households and businesses hard.

"We hope to extract around 10 million cubic feet (mmcf) of gas from this well daily," Engineer Md Shahinur Islam, managing director of Sylhet Gas Fields, briefed reporters at the gas field on Thursday.

"Prior to the workover of the well, we estimated that 5mmcf of gas can be extracted from it but now it looks like the volume will be higher than what we expected," he said, adding that gas extraction will begin soon after some other necessary work is completed.

The Bangladesh Petroleum Exploration and Production Company Limited (Bapex) as a contractor on behalf of Sylhet Gas Fields began drilling well 1 of the Beanibazar field on 10 September. The well has remained abandoned since 2016.

Mohammad Ali, managing director of Bapex, told The Business Standard, "After the initial drill test, we started the drill stem test on Thursday, which will be continued for 48 hours to confirm the well's reservation volume.

"So far, it seems this well has a good reserve of gas as we are witnessing 3,200 pounds per square inch (PSI) pressure in the flare."

The workover of a few wells is being conducted as part of the initiative to find fresh reserves and add up to 300mmcf of gas per day to the national grid by 2023, he added.

Apart from the Beanibazar well, Bapex is due to drill four more abandoned wells under Sylhet Gas Fields.

Meanwhile, the drilling of Kailashtila-8 and Goainghat-10 wells in Golapganj and the laying of a pipeline in the Rashidpur gas field are underway, said sources at SGCL.

According to SGFL sources, there are two wells in the Beanibazar gas field.  Extraction started in 1999 from well 1, which was closed in 2014. Extraction started again at the beginning of 2016 but was stopped at the end of that year. Now, the well is being explored again.

SGFL's gas production will further increase after the completion of these projects. 

Besides, a three-dimensional seismic survey in Dupitila, Batchia, Hararganj, Jokiganj and Sylhet south on exploring for more gas and oil in the region is nearing completion.

Stating that more wells are being drilled under SGFL, its MD Engineer Shahinur Islam said, "It will add a significant amount of gas to the national grid by 2023. After the implementation of all the ongoing exploration projects, daily gas production from Sylhet Gas Fields Limited is expected to increase by 164mmcf by 2025."

Currently, there are 28 discovered gas fields in the country. Of them, 20 are now supplying 2,206.5mmcf of gas per day.

With imported LNG, the country is now supplying 2,586.6mmcf of gas per day whereas demand for gas is around 3,400-3,500mmcf.