News Desk :
Sylhet Gas Field Ltd has signed an agreement with China’s Sinopec International Petroleum Service Corporation to dig the Sylhet-10 gas well.
State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid on Sunday said gas extraction work has been prioritised to ensure energy security.
The project will be implemented and funded by Gas Development Fund and Sylhet Gas Field Ltd, said a press release from the ministry.
Sinopec International Petroleum Service Corporation has signed the agreement based on a turn-key basis.
Petrobangla hopes the well will be able to supply 10 million cubic feet of gas per day.
Nasrul Hamid joined the signing ceremony virtually. He instructed officials to complete all the work-in-progress before the schedule.
He said, “The country is hungry for primary energy. So, we have to complete the ongoing projects before the timeline”.
Petrobangla Chairman Nazmul Hasan, Additional Secretary for Power and Energy Division S M Jakir Hossain and Managing Director of Sylhet Gas Field Ltd. Mijanur Rahman was present at the ceremony.
Sylhet Gas Fields Limited is currently producing 91 million cubic feet of gas per day and supplying it to the national grid.
According to the plan, by 2023, another 83 million cubic feet of gas per day, in addition to the existing 91 million cubic feet of gas per day, will be channelled to the national grid by drilling two new wells-Kailash Tila-8 and Sylhet-10, workover of four wells and a new pipeline of a well in Rashidpur.
However, the production will be increased to 255 million cubic feet by the end of 2024 by drilling a total of six new wells and workoverover of seven abandoned wells.
SGFL and BAPEX have agreed to increase the gas production to 618 million cubic feet per day by the end of 2025 and a total of 46 wells will be in operation by that time, according to plan.
Besides, the state-run Bangladesh Petroleum Exploration and Production Company Ltd (BAPEX) started drilling a workover well in Biyanibazar gas field on Saturday to reinitiate gas production from the well after five years.
“We have initiated drilling of Biyanibazar-1 well today (Saturday) in search of a new gas zone some 3,200 metres beneath the surface,” BAPEX Managing Director (MD) Mohammad Ali told the FE on Saturday.
Some 5.0 to 7.0 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) of natural gas is expected to be produced once the drilling of the workover well is planned to be completed by December this year, he said.
Sylhet Gas fields Ltd (SFGL) Managing Director MdMizanur Rahman and top officials of the BAPEX and the SGFL attended an inaugural event organised to mark initiation of the drilling.
Biyanibazar gas field is owned by the SGFL, while the BAPEX will be carrying out the drilling job under a bilateral agreement.
BAPEX has a deal with the SGFL to drill three wells owned by the SGFL at a cost of around Tk 1.0 billion.
“We have already completed drilling of two wells of the SGFL – Sylhet-8 and Kailashtila-7,” said BAPEX MD Mohammad Ali.
Sylhet-8 well is now producing around 6.0 mmcfd of gas and Kailashtila-7 well is producing around 10 mmcfd of gas.
Biyanibazar-1 had been a producing gas well until 2017.
It was producing natural gas from 1991 to 2014 uninterruptedly.
After 2014 it had stopped producing natural gas for one year and then reinitiated production for three years from 2015 to 2017.
Biyanibazar-1 well was then producing natural gas from an old gas zone some 3,400 meter depth.
