On the cusp of finding a new gas field
Promises come from Ilisha union in Bhola
Bapex believes it has discovered a gas field at Ilisha union in Bhola.
"We found gas in the first layer, a depth of 3.44km. Now we are checking whether there is gas in the upper two layers," said Mohammad Ali, managing director of Bangladesh Petroleum Exploration and Production Company Limited (Bapex).
If everything goes as expected, Bapex will formally announce the new discovery of a gas field, possibly by the middle of this month, he told The Daily Star.
The first drilling stem test, a method of determining extractable reserve, reveals that the pressure in the deepest layer is around 3,500 PSI and the gas flow is over 14 million cubic feet a day, he said, adding that producing gas from the field would be commercially viable.
Bapex estimates that 180-200 billion cubic feet of gas would be found in the new field. The company has been extracting gas as an experiment from the exploratory well, Ilisha-1, since April 28, and the second drill stem test, down to 3.2km depth, will start this week, officials said.
The last gas field discovered in Bangladesh was at Zakiganj, Sylhet, in June 2021.
The current known gas reserve in Bangladesh is almost 10 trillion cubic feet of gas. The country currently consumes around 1 TCF of gas a year.
The reserve they found in Ilisha is not part of the two previously discovered gas fields, Shahbazpur and Bhola North, said the Bapex chief.
That Bhola North is a separate gas field is debated because many renowned geologists believe that it is a part of the Shahbazpur field, which is only about 3km away.
Bapex chief Mohammad Ali says Ilisha is at least 35km away from Shahbazpur, and its reserve is separated by a seismogenic fault from the two other gas fields.
Nasrul Hamid, state minister for power, energy and mineral resources, recently wrote on Facebook that the authorities were about to find a new gas field.
The development comes at a time when the government is spending foreign currency to import expensive LNG to meet the growing energy demands.
Renowned energy expert Prof Badrul Imam said, "The exploration is significant. Several years ago, some influential individuals in the government started saying there was no gas in our country and our reserves were running out.
"We have large volumes of gas onshore and offshore because our country is the biggest delta in the world. We need more and more exploration so that we can save millions of dollars by reducing LNG purchases."
"They stopped exploration and started importing LNG from the international spot market. Geologists, like myself, have always said that these were false claims. We have large volumes of gas onshore and offshore because our country is the biggest delta in the world.
"We need more and more exploration so that we can save millions of dollars by reducing LNG purchases."
In 2022, Bapex took a two-year initiative to drill at least 46 wells. In Bhola, it drilled three wells and found gas in all of them.
Maqbul E Elahi Chowdhury, a former director at Petrobangla, said, "The gas field [Ilisha] may produce around 30 million cubic feet a day. However, the country needs 3,000 million cubic feet a day."
Since Bhola is an island, supplying gas from there to the national grid remains a major challenge, he said.
"We need a feasibility study by a competent third party to see whether investing in a pipeline from Bhola would be worthwhile."
Prof Anwar Hossain Bhuiyan of Dhaka University said although gas has been found in the Shahbazpur and Bhola North fields, and the Ilisha-1 well, the latter is an isolated field.
Between 2.5 and 5 million years ago, river sediments separated Ilisha from the Bhola North field. Gas has been found in Ilisha well at a layer deeper than that of Shahbazpur and Bhola North fields, he told The Daily Star.
The Togbi-1 well, which was drilled to explore gas, was later proved to be part of the Shahbazpur field, he said.
"This time, the picture is different." It has been confirmed by 3D seismic data that a channel filled with rocks predominantly made up of silt and clay separated the Ilisha field from Bhola north from west and northeast, he added.
"We have to pay millions of dollars to import liquified natural gas from abroad. If you consider the current situation, this discovery is big news."