Chevron hikes gas supply by 30mmcfd from March

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M Azizur Rahman US oil giant Chevron will augment gas supply from the Moulvibazar gas field by 30 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) from March next year as part of a government-led move to boost energy supply. "Chevron has informed us about its plan to increase gas output by 30 mmcfd from new wells of Moulvibazar gas field," Petrobangla Chairman Dr Hussain Monsur told the FE Sunday. The US firm has recently drilled three new wells in the field, which has been producing gas for the last six years. Chevron identified two potential structures MB-A and MB-B for drilling wells in the structure. It has drilled two wells in MB-A location and the third in MB-B location, a company insider said. The drilling rig was moved to a new location in Bibiyana gas field to drill a number of wells there, he said. Moulvibazar gas field is now supplying around 42 mmcfd gas from four producing wells. It was discovered in 1999 and production started in 2005. State-run Petrobangla earlier approved the budget and a work plan to augment gas output from the Moulvibazar field in an effort to ease the country's mounting gas demand. The US firm launched its new exploration and drilling activities in Bangladesh since last year, aimed at boosting gas output by at least by 500 mmcfd in line with a target set by Petrobangla. Chevron is the largest international oil company (IOC) operating in Bangladesh. It accounts for 47 per cent of the country's daily gas output of 2,030 mmcfd. The firm owns the right to explore gas in three of the nation's most prospective fields --- stretching 10,000 square kilometers --- including Bibiyana, home to one of the top gas findings in Asia in recent decades. Chevron has been producing around 752 mmcfd of gas from Bibiyana gas field, the single largest productive gas field in Bangladesh, and 161 mmcfd from Jalalabad gas field situated in block-12 and block-13. The US firm was also setting up a compression station in national gas grid at Muchai in the northeast, which is also expected to scale up gas production. Construction of the compression station has neared completion, said a company insider. Petrobangla will build a 100 km pipeline at a cost of US$250 million to facilitate supply of increased output from Chevron gas fields. The country has a shortfall of around 500 mmcf in daily gas supply as demand hovers 2,500 mmcd. Gas supply shortfall has forced Petrobangla, the state-owned gas giant, to suspend new gas connections to industrial plants since July 2009, a key reason for sluggish industrial growth in the past two years. Gas connections to households remained suspended since July 2010 affecting newly built houses and condominiums. Gas rationing has become frequent and compressed natural gas (CNG) filling stations are forced to draw shutter four hours a day to cope with the supply shortfall.