Workover aims to restart gas production at Titas well, to produce 15mmcf daily

The Bangladesh Gas Fields Company Limited (BGFCL) commenced a workover project on Tuesday in Brahmanbaria to restore gas production from well number 14 of the Titas Gas Field.

BGFCL Managing Director (Current Charge) Engineer Fazlul Haque inaugurated the project.

Following a two-month workover period, the well is expected to contribute an additional 15 million cubic feet (mmcf) of gas daily to the national grid.  

Titas Gas Field, the country's oldest, currently supplies 392 mmcf of gas daily through its 23 operational wells.

However, well number 14, drilled in 2000 with a production capacity of 29.5 mmcf, was shut down in November 2021 due to excessive water production.

Three more wells of Titas and several others in Habiganj, Bakhrabad and Meghna gas fields had also been closed due to various reasons.

To address declining gas production across its fields, BGFCL launched a Tk523 crore project encompassing the workover of seven closed wells of these fields.

Project Director Ismail Molla said that Bangladesh Petroleum Exploration and Production Company Limited will handle the maintenance and repair of four wells, while foreign companies will expedite production restoration in the remaining three.

"The work of Titas well number 14 will be completed first and then the work of the remaining wells will be started. If everything goes well, at least 15 mmfc of gas will be added to the national grid from Titas well number 14 within the next two months," he said.

Fazlul said that in the last 55 years, about 5.5 tonnes per square foot of gas has been extracted from the wells of Titas Gas Field.

However, production is also decreasing as the gas pressure in the wells decreases. Wellhead compressors have been installed in some wells to keep the gas pressure normal.

If the workover of the closed wells is completed, production will increase further.

BGFCL General Manager (Administration) Md Habibur Rahman, General Manager (Project and Development) Zakir Hossain Tarafdar and General Manager (Operation) Ashrafuzzaman, among others, were present at the inaugural ceremony.