Bangladesh discovers gas field with huge reserves

Dhaka : A new gas field with a possibility of a two to three trillion cubic feet (tcf) reserve has been found in Bangladesh, an official said.

The gas structure in the Sunamganj-Netrakona districts of the northeastern region has been discovered by the state-run Bangladesh Petroleum Exploration Company (Bapex).

The company is preparing to drill an exploratory well in the new oil and gas structure determined after a survey, Bapex Managing Director Mortuza Ahmad Faruque told The Daily Star Sunday.

"This is a high prospect zone. It is located in the Surma basin. The Bibiyana field is located in the eastern part of this basin while this zone is located in the western part. This zone has all the geological characteristics required for oil or gas deposits. The size of this structure can accommodate two to three tcf gas," said Faruque.

The structure has been given the name "Sunetra" combining the names of Sunamganj and Netrokona as the structure spreads across both the districts.

Bapex is now preparing a high priority proposal for the government to drill one exploratory well in March-April next year at a cost of $11.5 million in Fulor village in Sunamganj by the Monai river.

This could be the biggest find by the lone Bangladeshi exploration company that had over the years discovered 10 small to medium fields. The biggest field discovered by Bapex so far is in Shahbazpur in Bhola that has around 600 billion cubic feet (bcf) reserve, the newspaper said.

Gas from this field can be made available to Netrokona or Mymensingh within a couple of years. The energy ministry is already working on a pipeline project on priority basis to transmit the new find.

The structure was discovered through a seismic survey covering a line of 260 km conducted last year and earlier this year. The interpretation of the survey data was completed in July and Bapex submitted it to its parent company Petrobangla.

Bangladesh has high gas reserves, but says that it is short of gas and signed a contract with India this year to import it.

By IANS,26 September 2010