Staff Reporter :
The government is likely to approve operation expansion proposal submitted by the US oil company of Chevron, measuring 67 square kilometres under onshore gas block 12 at Bibiyana.
State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid said that the government was considering Chevron’s proposal to get more gas from the field within a short time.
Meanwhile, Chevron has taken up a $500 million programme to increase gas extraction at Bibiyana field to 1,100 million cubic feet of gas per day from 8,00 mmcfd. But the experts expressed concern over increasing gas extraction programme from the lone field. They said Bibiyana would face the fate of Sangu, which had a premature death because of over-extraction of gas.
Chevron, in its proposal, also sought permission to drill wells beyond 3,100 metres depth at Bibiyana field to explore more gas layers, officials said. Chevron is now restricted to conduct exploration activities within 3,100 metres depth, they said. Chevron has demanded the expanded area, which its predecessor Unocal relinquished after the discovery of Bibiyana gas field in 1998, the officials said.
Petrobangla, the state-run Oil, Gas and Mineral Resources Corporation, owns the area. In April 2010, Petrobangla signed contract with Chevron giving it 73 square kilometers of additional area adjacent to the Jalalabad gas field.
Experts, rights activists, including the National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas, Mineral Resources, Power and Port, protested the then Awami League-led government’s decision to allocate the 73 square km area without calling a tender.
‘Under normal circumstances, Chevron would have to bid for oil and gas exploration in the area adjacent to Bibiyana field,’ a Petrobangla official said.
When asked, Nasrul said, it would take time for state-run or private companies to explore the fresh areas of Bibiyana field.
A Petrobangla official, however, said that Petrobangla would incur losses if Chevron did not find any resource in the new areas, as the US firm would then realize its investment from the current produce of Bibiyana.
Chevron justified its decision to increase gas extraction from the field following a revision in Bibiyana’s gas reserve in 2009, which showed that the field’s recoverable reserve was 4.42 trillion cubic feet or tcf, almost double of the initial estimate.
