POBNEWS24, Dhaka Aug 20 2022 : At least 30 wells of various gas fields that have stopped production in the country still have 50 percent gas reserves. It is possible to extract this gas using ‘secondary recovery’ technology. By doing this, gas production can be increased by more than 1000 million cubic feet per day. Many countries in the world are extracting gas through ‘secondary recovery’ technology after ‘primary recovery’.
Muhammad Amirul Islam, associate professor of Bangladesh Military Institute of Science and Technology, has given this information in a recent study. This researcher is also working as a researcher for Norway’s multinational oil and gas company StateOil (now Equinor). The research project on whether there is gas in the fields that have ceased production was funded by the Prime Minister’s Higher Education Research Fund. This study started in 2013 and ended in 2021. The research paper is expected to be prepared in book form and submitted to the Prime Minister’s Office by the end of next month.
The demand for gas in the country is increasing but the production is not increasing. The government has to import expensive liquefied natural gas (LNG) to meet the demand. At present, the cost of domestic gas production is 12 to 15 times higher than the cost of importing LNG. In this, the subsidy pressure on the energy department is increasing. Due to the high price of LNG, the government has stopped the import of LNG from the spot market (Kholabazar) for the time being. Due to this, load shedding is happening all over the country due to reduced power generation due to gas crisis. Industrial production is also disrupted.
According to Amirul Islam’s research, gas production is mainly done in several steps. In the initial stage the gas field (reservoir) naturally pushes the gas upwards by its own energy. He told Kal Kantha, ‘We basically got the gas that the reserve gave us with its own power. Its amount is 50 percent of the stock in the respective well. We get maximum 50 percent gas because this force of upward push gradually decreases. After extracting this 50 percent gas from different gas fields of our country, we stop the production activities. He said that in the second phase, many countries of the world are extracting gas through ‘downhole gas compressor’ technology. The use of this technology does not require much skill. Only a special device (device) is installed underground. Then the device just needs to be operated.
The research shows that there are 30 million barrels of oil in the Haripur oil field, the market value of which is more than 30 thousand crore rupees. Well No. 7 of the Kailastila gas field has an oil layer at a depth of 3,260 m to 3,270 m; Where there are 90 million barrels of oil. The market value of which is about 90 thousand crores. There is a large amount of gas in Blocks 7, 10 and 15 under Product Sharing Contract (PSC) in the Petrobangla assigned map of the country. Especially Bhola has high gas content. More wells need to be drilled in these blocks. Drilling 30 wells here in the next five years will increase gas production by 1,000 million cubic feet per day, which is capable of meeting 25 percent of our gas demand. Along with the drilling of these wells, construction of pipelines and infrastructure will enable the gas to be supplied to the national grid.
According to the study, PSC blocks SS-11 and DS-12 of Bangladesh are located along with PSC blocks A-3, AD-7 and AD-8 of Myanmar. Myanmar has drilled 9 wells in these blocks. It has four trillion cubic feet of gas reserves and produces 500 million cubic feet of gas per day. Myanmar also exports four billion dollars worth of gas annually. Bangladesh is far behind in this aspect. So Bangladesh has to search for gas in the sea as soon as possible. Production has to be started by excavating areas that may contain gas fields.
According to the study, Bangladesh Gas Field Company Limited can increase the gas production by about 300 million cubic feet by using the second phase gas extraction technology. Apart from this four wells of Bakhrabad gas field are closed. These wells have initially produced gas. Thus, if second stage extraction technology can be used in Bakhrabad, Habiganj, Meghna, Narsingdi gas field, Sylhet, Kailastila, Rashidpur, Biyanibazar, Salda, Fenchuganj, Shahbazpur, Shemutang, Sundarpur, Srikail, Begumganj, Rupganj, then production will increase.
Geologist and energy expert Professor Badrul Imam supervised this research of Amirul Islam. He told Kal Kantha, ‘Amirul Islam is a skilled researcher, his research on increasing gas production from blocked wells is of high quality and quite acceptable. In the study, he has highlighted the country’s gas extraction potential with various scientific explanations. ‘
According to the study, the causes of gas well closures in the country include damage, deterioration of gas pipelines, interconnection of wells and increased production of water and sand.
Advising the development of the energy sector, Amirul Islam said, ‘A technical committee should be formed at a high level for the sustainable development of the country’s energy sector, just like dealing with Corona. Only then it will be possible to implement the development of the energy sector quickly. He told Kal Kantha, “We have completed the initial stage of gas production, now we have to produce the second stage of gas with better technology. Only then we can increase gas production. ‘
According to Bangladesh Oil, Gas and Mineral Resources Corporation (Petrobangla), the government has started working on several plans with emphasis on domestic gas production. By 2025, the government has planned to increase the production of 618 million cubic feet of gas per day through workover, exploration and development of 46 gas wells in the country.
According to the information of Petrobangla, currently the daily demand of gas in the country is about 4000 million cubic feet. Out of this it is possible to supply about 2850 million cubic feet. About 2,350 million cubic feet of gas is coming from domestic wells every day. And the government is importing 500 million cubic feet of liquefied natural gas (LNG) under long-term contracts.
Chairman of Petrobangla Nazmul Ahsan told Kal Kantha, ‘The government has planned to increase the production of domestic gas. If we can do that then domestic gas production will increase as expected in future. This will reduce the dependence on LNG imports. ‘
