Gas found in Comilla Reserve seems medium in size; Bapex plans to supply gas from early next year

Bangladesh Petroleum Exploration Company (Bapex) hit a natural gas reservoir at Srikail in Comilla yesterday, seven years after a failed attempt in the area.
Bapex Managing Director Mortuza Ahmad Faruque believes the reservoir might be medium in size but bigger than the Sangu and Semutang gas fields.
He said they had found a gas flow at the rate of 15 to 16 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) with a pressure of 1,900 pounds per square inch (psi) during a test run in an exploratory well in Srikail in the morning.
The Bapex chief expects the gas pressure would reach up to 2,700 psi at the well head when the field is ready for commercial production.
He said Bapex had resources almost ready to produce 25 to 30 mmcfd of gas from DecemberJanuary.
The country is now at least 500 mmcfd gas short in supply which is affecting the power generation and burner usage in homes. This discovery is considered big, but it would not solve the crisis entirely.
This is the second gas discovery in the present government's tenure. The first one, discovered last year also by Bapex, is in Sundalpur of Noakhali. The small field has been producing 10 to 12 mmcfd gas for the last few months.
The lone national exploration wing that presently produces 85 to 90 mmcfd gas from different small gas fields, tried to find gas in Srikail in 2005. But instead of gas, it found water and sand in the first exploratory well.
In 2007, Bapex conducted a seismic survey to understand the prospects better. Upon completion, it prepared a project to drill a new exploratory well. Accordingly, it started drilling a well on May 5 this year and completed the task of drilling up to 3,214 metres on June 30, in less than two months.
It started testing the well from July 12.
“We started getting gas from a depth of 3,020 metres. The gas layer is 15 metres thick. We have found another layer 2,970 metres below the ground which will be tested later,” said the Bapex MD.
Bapex will conduct a three dimensional seismic survey there in October to properly assess the size of the gas field. It will drill more wells based on the study.
“To avail this gas commercially, we will need a gas processing plant and install a three-kilometre feeder pipeline to connect the Srikail field with the nearby gas transmission system of Bakhrabad fields,” the MD said.
Since installing a processing plant is time consuming, Bapex plans to create a makeshift arrangement to process the gas through alternative means.
“We were approved of a project cost amounting to Tk 81 crore. Of this, Tk 60 crore has been spent on drilling and with the remaining funds we can easily go for an early commercial production,” Faruque said.
For Bapex, this is the most productive period. Right now, all its five drilling rigs are in operation in different locations.
“One rig is ready to start drilling in Sunetra from July 16,” he said.
Sunetra in Sunamganj-Netrakona is Bapex's biggest hope. Based on a seismic study, Bapex believes it has a gas structure with the promise of getting no less than two to three trillion cubic feet reserve.
Another rig is ready to start drilling the 17th well of the country's biggest and oldest gas field Titas. Two other rigs are now drilling in Salda and Kailastila fields.