Photo : Collected
Bangladesh Petroleum Exploration and Production Company Limited (Bapex), a subsidiary of Petrobangla, has decided to drill 19 new wells in Bhola district to extract gas reserves of 5 trillion but the company don’t have adequate manpower and financial solvency.
Experts think, such kind of unrealistic steps will linger the exploration activities. Bapex should be capable to do the big works first then they have to drive in the gas fields.
BAPEX geologists estimate that the district has more than 5.19 trillion cubic feet of gas reserves. Bapex DGM and researcher recently retired Alamgir Hossain confirmed this information on Saturday.
Earlier, 6 wells were dug in Shahbazpur gas field area of Borhanuddin upazila and 3 wells were dug in Ilisha field area of district headquarter and about 2 trillion gas reserves were confirmed.
Out of the new 19 wells, 5 are in the district headquarters and 14 are in Borhanuddin and Charfashan areas. BAPEX and Russian energy company Gazprom identified the well drilling site after joint 3-D, 2-D exploration.
The identified areas of the new wells are-Bhola North-3 near Zangalia Bazar in District Sadar, Bhola North-4 in Guptamunsi village, Bhola-5 on the border of Ratanpur and Charpata, Shahbazpur 5 and 7 near Udaipur Bazar, Bhola West-1 near Banglabazar, Bhola North-5, Shahbazpur- 9, Shahbazpur South-1, Shahbazpur North East-2, Shahbazpur North-1, Shahbajpur-6, Shahbajpur-8, Shahbajpur-10, Shahbajpur-11, Shahbajpur-12, Shahbajpur-13, Alimabad-1 of Charfashion.
Bapex officials said that the number of wells that have been dug after the survey has been confirmed in each of them. Drilling of 19 wells will ensure greater reserves in the country. Already 9 wells have been dug in 3 different areas starting from Shahbazpur gas field in Borhanuddin district to Ilisha, Veduria area of district headquarters.
They said that Bapex and Gazprom have been searching for new reserves since 2020 by dividing the entire district into two parts. The technical team of this Russian company has already drilled 5 wells.
Former Bapex Managing Director Mokbul E Elahi told the Daily Messenger “Bapex is a weak company. It doesn’t have skilled man power and adequate fund. If Bapex starts working in huge project they may fail. So, Bapex should work jointly with another IOC.”
According to Bapex sources, there is an agreement with Gazprom for drilling gas wells in Bhola. On the other hand, according to the Energy Advisor, 35 wells will be drilled by 2025, 11 of which will be done by BAPEX. Another 24 will be awarded to new companies through open tenders.
The government has already planned to add Bhola gas to the national grid. Bapex also said that there is a plan to take the gas line through Barisal to Khulna through the construction of Bhola-Barisal bridge. Besides, LNG is being brought in cylinders from Bhola to Dhaka.
Gas reserves have been confirmed in every well in Bhola. At the same time, Bapex engineers confirmed that 20 to 25 mmcscfd of gas can be extracted daily from each well.
Messenger/Disha
