Country finds 2.23 TCF gas reserve in Bhola

Staff Reporter :
The Energy Division has announced a new gas discovery at Ilisha-1, under Bhola district, the Southern part of Bangladesh that found a huge reserve of gas recently.
State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid said this while answering a question during a press briefing on the occasion of declaration of the Ilisha-1 in Bhola as the 29th gas field on Monday.

The new well has reserves of about 200 billion cubic feet of gas. From which an average of 20 million cubic feet of gas can be extracted per day, he said.
In continuation of the initiative taken by the government to ensure energy security, the excavation work of Ilisha-1 well started on March 9. Gazprom, the Russian state-owned company, operates the mine under the supervision of BAPEX.

“We are announcing Ilisha-1 as the country’s 29th gas field, we found huge natural gas at Bhola, a new energy hub comprising with Sahbajpur, Bhola North and Ilishe, which have around 2.23 TCF of gas,” Nasrul Hamid made the announcement from his Baridhara residence in the city.

He said that it is a big good news for the people of the country as the nation is passing though a very crucial time at the moment as energy issue is concerned.
The Ilisha -1 gas field’s discovery was announced after completion of necessary drilling and other works,” Nasrul said, adding that a 200 billion cubic feet reserve of gas is anticipated to be present in the new gas field. Total gas production capacity is expected to reach 20 million cubic feet per day, and gas will be collected for 26-30 years from here,” he said.

He said considering the described reserve of gas at Elisha-1 well, the estimated price of gas at customer level is about Tk. 6,744 crore, and according to existing price of the international market, the estimated gas price is approximately Tk. 26,750 crore.”

Ilisha-1 is located in a union in Bhola district, 182 km away from the capital city Dhaka, however, the Petrobangla could be able to extract around 200 mmcf of gas per day from these fields. “On 8 March this year, Ilisha-1 excavation started in the Maler Hat area of Ilisha union in Bhola Sadar upazila and the drilling was completed successfully on 24 April through the Drill Stem Test in three levels at a depth of 3,475 metres,” the State Minister said.

The state minister said earlier gas was found in different wells under Bhola north and Bhola south structures.
“We are planning to bring gas from entire Bhola area to the national grid, we need to install a pipeline, it will take some time,” he said.
According to the State Minister, a pre-feasibility was conducted about the pipeline and now work is underway for conducting a feasibility study on the issue.
Nasrul said it will take about three years to bring the gas from Bhola to Dhaka through pipeline.

But initially, he said, a private company has signed a contract to bring a total of 25 mmcfd gas from Bhola through big trailer. Primarily, it will star with 5 mmcfd transportation.

“The government has a plan to create a ring-fence of pipeline covering Bhola, Barishal, and Dhaka to use the gas for this region while another ring-fence will be created covering the Dhaka, Sylhet and other districts,” he said.

Apart from Ilisha-2 , the two Bhola gas fields have around 200 mmcf production capacity, while the production hovers between 80-85 mmcf.
Therefore, around 120 mmcf surplus capacity remains unused in the eight wells of the Shahbazpur and Bhola gas fields.
Due to the lack of pipeline and transmission facilities, the government was unable to supply the surplus gas from the Bhola field to other areas.
Currently, about 2300 mmcfd gas is being produced from 22 gas fields in the country, while about 700 mmcfd gas is being imported from abroad to meet the demand of about 4000 mmcfd, leaving a deficit of about 1000 mmcfd.

Meanwhile, people across the country are not going to get respite from load shedding for one month due to acute shortage of gas to generate electricity from power-plants.
It will take at least a more month for the country’s load-shedding issues to normalize, said the State Minister.