Bangladesh has added 12.5 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) of gas to the national grid from the Titas Gas Field in Brahmanbaria, as the government seeks to boost domestic production amid a persistent energy supply shortfall.
The gas is being supplied from Well No. 28 of the Titas field by Bangladesh Gas Fields Company Ltd (BGFCL). The well was developed at a cost of around Tk2 billion (£15 million).
State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Anindya Islam Amit formally inaugurated the gas supply from the well on Saturday.
Speaking at the inauguration, Mr Amit said the additional domestic gas supply was particularly significant after the country had recently faced a severe energy crisis.
“From today, an additional 12.5 million cubic feet of gas is being added to the national grid from Titas Well-28,” he said.
The government has launched a programme to drill 150 new wells by 2030 as part of efforts to strengthen Bangladesh’s energy security and reduce dependence on imported fuels, the state minister said.
Work on 27 wells is already under way, including Titas-28, he added.
The government also plans to drill three more wells at the Titas field. If successful, the four wells are expected to add a further 45 mmcfd of gas to the national grid, according to the state minister.
Import dependence
Mr Amit acknowledged that Bangladesh remained under considerable pressure over energy supplies and costs.
“We are not in a comfortable situation at the moment,” he said, adding that the country had inherited the current energy crisis.
He attributed the rise in energy costs and import dependence to what he described as past policy failures.
“Now we are buying LNG at two or even three times the price,” he said. “We do not have the capacity to bear this cost.”
The state minister also criticised what he described as a lack of attention to state-owned energy institutions under the previous government, saying the organisations had been neglected for nearly 18 years.
He said the current administration was creating opportunities for those institutions to demonstrate their technical and operational capabilities.
Bapex expansion
The government is also working to strengthen state-owned exploration company Bangladesh Petroleum Exploration and Production Company Ltd (Bapex) to increase domestic gas production, Mr Amit said.
Two drilling rigs are currently being procured, while preparations are under way to purchase another, he said.
Training is also being provided to Bangladeshi officials so that local professionals can take on greater responsibility based on merit and technical expertise, he added.
The state minister congratulated officials and workers involved in bringing the additional gas from Titas-28 into the national grid.
Mohammad Ziaul Haque, secretary of the Energy and Mineral Resources Division, said Bangladesh was currently facing a gas shortage and was therefore having to rely on both domestic production and imports.
“We are making efforts to meet our gas supply targets through small-scale initiatives such as this,” he said.
Focus on deeper wells
Abdul Jalil Pramanik, managing director of BGFCL, said the gas shortage remained one of Bangladesh’s major challenges and that the company was working to increase domestic supplies.
“Titas-28 is one of our initiatives to increase the supply of locally produced gas,” he said.
He described Titas-28 as a shallow well and said the company’s longer-term objective was to increase gas production through deeper drilling.
Drilling is also under way on Titas Well-31, which he described as the country’s first deepest-well drilling project.
The inauguration ceremony was attended by Engineer Khaled Hossain Mahbub Shyamal, MP for Brahmanbaria-3 (Sadar-Bijoynagar), along with officials from the Energy and Mineral Resources Division, Petrobangla, BGFCL and China National Petroleum Corporation-affiliated drilling contractor CCDC.
Well development
According to BGFCL, drilling of Titas Well-28 began on 15 December last year and was completed on 19 June.
The well was developed at a cost of approximately Tk2 billion.
Chinese company CCDC is serving as the integrated drilling contractor for a four-well drilling programme at the Titas-Kamta gas field, according to BGFCL.