Govt to dig new gas wells to ensure energy security

Industry Desk: The government has taken a number of measures including exploring new gas wells along with digging the existing ones to meet the increasing demand of energy.
“We’ve taken steps to dig different existing gas wells along with discovering new ones to boost energy production against the backdrop of the Russia-Ukraine conflicts that have posed a threat to global energy security, including Bangladesh,” said an energy ministry official.
He said Russia-Ukraine conflicts have made the global import market of gasoline volatile pushing up the gas and oil price abnormally. But the current crisis in the Bangladesh energy sector is temporary and Bangladesh will soon be able to overcome it, the official added.
According to the ministry, the government has discovered two new gas wells-Srikail East-1 and Zakiganj-1 through well digging/work-over, while digging of Sylhet-9 well was completed and gas was found for commercially extraction.
Apart from this, digging of five wells was going on and work-over of six wells were completed successfully. The installation project of process plant/mini refinery for 3000 barrel capacity catalytic reforming unit was finished, it said.
State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid said that the government implemented 144 projects under energy and mineral resources division at a cost of Tk 3,176,070 crore from 2009 to June 2022.
“Process is underway to implement 42 projects with a cost of Tk 22,266.38 crore. The government is able to maintain an uninterrupted supply of fuel oil, gas and LPG across the country aimed at keeping industries operation stable,” he said. Nasrul said that all necessary steps have been taken to ensure energy security.
Sources said that installation of new 534 kilometre transmission pipeline and 157 kilometre distribution pipeline is going on, while 620 kilometre oil supply pipeline is being installed. Installation of sing point mooring with double pipeline and 19 wellhead compressors were underway.
Besides, 4.70 lakh gas prepaid metres were being installed and 2D (2dimension) and 3D (3Dimension) seismic survey was completed. Selection of developer for construction of Moheshkhali LNG terminal and installation of ERL Unit-2 having 3.0 million metric tonnes capacity is going on it added.
The government is also planning significantly increase the digging of gas wells to help meet domestic energy demand. As per the plan taken by the Bangladesh Oil, Gas and Mineral Resources Corporation (Petrobangla), around 618 million cubic feet of gas per day from 46 new wells will be added to the national grid from 2025.
The 46 new wells will include 17 exploration wells, 12 development wells and 17 workover wells. Petrobangla will conduct two-dimensional and three-dimensional seismic surveys across the country to prepare the digging of the wells.
The government has also signed an agreement to extract 4.5 million metric tonnes of coal from Boropukuria mine from next six years. Agreement duration was also extended at the Moddyapara Granite Mining with Germany. Multi client survey (deep sea and shallow for oil and gas exploration) and production sharing contract (PSC) for offshore bidding round was updated.
Petrobangla has also taken a plan to dig 46 gas wells by 2025, which will be dug gradually, Chairman of Petrobangla Nazmul Ahsan said earlier.
In 2023, a total 15 new wells (Bapex 5, SGFL 6, BGFCL 4) are expected to produce a further 217 million cubic feet of gas per day.
In 2024, 14 new wells (Bapex 6, SGFL 4, BGFCL 4) are expected to produce 176 million cubic feet of gas per day. The final 11 wells (Bapex 4, SGFL 3, BGFCL 4) dug in 2025 are expected to produce 163 million cubic feet of gas per day.