Russia has proposed drilling five wells in the Bhola Gas Field under a government-to-government (G-to-G) agreement.
The proposal was made by Russia’s newly appointed ambassador, Alexander G. Khozin, during a courtesy call on Power and Energy Adviser Dr. Fauzul Kabir Khan at the Secretariat.
Speaking to Just Energy News after the meeting, Dr. Khan said, “The Russian ambassador inquired about the previous arrangement for drilling five wells through Gazprom. We clarified our position that the earlier deal was canceled and asked them to consider an open bidding process for the drilling programme.”
Following this discussion, the ambassador proposed a new plan to drill five wells and conduct a 3D seismic survey under a fresh G-to-G framework, Dr. Khan added.
Earlier, the interim government had scrapped a proposal by Russian state-owned company Gazprom to drill the five wells in Bhola under the Special Power and Energy Enhancement Act.
Official sources confirmed that the Russian side has now proposed drilling each well at a cost of US$22 million. In response to the government’s decision to cancel the previous arrangement, the Russian company also proposed deploying its own drilling rig, a costly option that was also rejected after BAPEX evaluated the bids.
“I have already directed Petrobangla and BAPEX to evaluate the Russian ambassador’s proposal,” said Dr. Khan.
Also present at the meeting were Dr. Sheikh Moinuddin, Special Assistant to the Chief Adviser on Road Transport and Bridges Affairs, and Mohammad Saiful Islam, Secretary of the Energy and Mineral Resources Division.
Currently, BAPEX is producing around 130 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) of natural gas from the greater Bhola region, against a demand of 80 mmcfd—mostly consumed by two power plants operating in the area. The government plans to drill a total of 19 wells in Bhola. Open tenders have already been floated for five of them, while another five are under consideration based on the renewed Russian proposal.