Gas reserves found in another well in Sylhet

Gas reserves have been found in well no 10 of the country's oldest gas field in Haripur, Sylhet. 

"Gas was found in this new well. We think that 13 million cubic feet of gas can be extracted daily from here," Sylhet Gas Field Limited (SGFL)  Director Mohammad Mizanur Rahman said on Sunday (26 November).

Earlier, the excavation work on the well started last June. Chinese company Sinopec did the excavation at a cost of Tk149 crore. According to Sylhet Gas Field Limited, the well has about 50 billion cubic feet of gas reserves.

"It will take another six months to start producing gas from this well," SGFL General Manager (Operation) Engineer Abdul Jalil Pramanik said. 

Stakeholders said that the monetary value of gas stored in the well is around Tk3600 crore.

Earlier, on 22 November, gas supply to the National Gas Grid started from the previously abandoned well no 2 at Sylhet's Kailastila. Around 7 million cubic feet of gas are being added to the national grid daily from the well. 

Abdul Quader Bhuiyan, director of the well drilling project, said that there are a total of nine gas wells in the Haripur gas field. 

Gas was first discovered in Haripur, Sylhet in 1955.

At present, there are five gas fields under SGFL - Haripur gasfield, Rashidpur gasfield, Chatak gasfield, Kailashtila gasfield and Biyanibazar gasfield. Among them, the Chatak gasfield is abandoned. Of the rest, 14 wells are currently producing about 105 million cubic feet of gas per day.

Sources said the government has planned to explore, dig and re-dig 46 wells in the country to increase gas production to solve the energy crisis. These excavations are expected to be completed by 2025. The wells are expected to increase gas production by 618 million cubic feet.

As part of this plan drilling and re-drilling of 14 wells under SGFL is underway. Three out of Sylhet's 14 wells started production last year. Extraction from well no 2 of Kailashtila started this month. 

Before this, three abandoned wells named Sylhet-8, Kailashtila-7 and Biyanibazar-1 under SGFL were re-excavated last year. From these wells, 16 to 18 million cubic feet of gas is being supplied daily to the national line.