Bapex pins hopes on new gas field in Bhola

The Bangladesh Petroleum Exploration and Production Company or Bapex has expressed hopes for natural gas at Bheduria in the southern district of Bhola.

Bhola North-1, an exploratory well, appears to be a new hub but more tests need to be done in order to be confirmed, said an official of the state-owned agency.

Bapex started digging the well in December last year, said Md Hasanuzzaman, deputy general manager of Shahbazpur gas field.

“The data and evidence gathered so far suggest the presence of gas but more tests need to be done.”

Bheduria appears to be a new gas field, Energy Secretary Nazimuddin Chowdhury told bdnews24.com. Some 600 billion cubic feet gas is reserved in the new well, an estimate discussed at a cabinet meeting on Monday.

Bapex started drilling the Shahbazpur East-1 gas well in Bhola in November last year. The well has around 720 billion cubic feet gas in reserve, according to Bapex.

A total of 1.5 trillion cubic feet gas is reserved in Bhola, said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at Monday’s cabinet meeting.

Bhola North-1 appears to be the 27th gas field, Cabinet Secretary Mohammad Shafiul Alam said.

Hasina stressed digging more gas wells in Bhola. The gas can be used in power plants and be added to the national grid through the pipeline, if needed, she said.

The proven reserves of the 26 gas fields in Bangladesh stand at 13.6 trillion cubic feet, according to state-owned oil and gas corporation Petrobangla.

Bangladesh produces 2.7 billion cubic feet natural gas a day, against demand for 3.4 billion cubic feet. Bangladesh has three million customers.

More than 58 percent of gas is used by power plants, 17 percent by factories, 11 percent by household users, 7 percent by fertiliser manufacturers and 6 percent by automobiles.

To meet the increasing demand, Bangladesh has decided to import liquefied natural gas or LNG and has already started building terminals.