The Bangladesh government has brought a newly drilled gas well at the Srikail gas field in Cumilla into operation, aiming to add around 8 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) of gas to the national grid in an effort to strengthen domestic energy supply.
The well, named Srikail-5, was drilled by state-owned exploration company Bangladesh Petroleum Exploration and Production Company Limited between September 28 last year and January 18 this year at a cost of about Tk132 crore.
State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Anindya Islam Amit formally inaugurated the facility. Secretary of the Energy and Mineral Resources Division Mohammad Saiful Islam accompanied him at the event.
According to Bapex officials, the development well is expected to supply gas for around 10 years. The well holds an estimated 40 billion cubic feet (bcf) of gas reserves, of which approximately 28 bcf is considered extractable.
Experimental gas supply from the well began on March 10, with around 8 mmcfd already being fed into the national grid.
Officials said the value of the extractable gas would be about Tk 6,832 crore if calculated based on the current price of imported liquefied natural gas (LNG). The value would be around Tk 1,814 crore if assessed at the domestic gas price.
Bangladesh, one of South Asia’s fastest-growing energy consumers, has increasingly relied on costly imported LNG in recent years as domestic gas production has declined. The additional supply from the Srikail field is expected to provide modest relief to industries, fertiliser plants and power generation that depend heavily on natural gas.