No improvement in gas, power supply situation

---

Despite repeated assurances from the top policymakers in the government, there is virtually no improvement in the country's gas and power supply situation, reports UNB.
In the last 18 months of the post-1/11 caretaker government, there was no significant breakthrough in the energy sector to increase the gas supply. As a result, the power supply situation has worsened.
According to official sources, there is no immediate reliable alternative arrangement in place to increase the gas supply to meet the growing demand in the power and industrial sectors.
The country's present gas production is about 1,800 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) and the demand is growing.
Petrobangla officials said they have been trying to work out a plan to increase gas supply. But if they are successful, it will take at least two to three years to get the result.
They said, at present, they have three options:
First, to raise the production of Cairn-run Sangu offshore gasfield and to start production from Magnama-Hatiya basin.
Second, to explore production in Chevron's Block 7.
Third, to increase production from the Chevron-run Moulvibazar and Bibiyana gasfields.
Of the three options, Petrobangla is already taking advantage of the additional supply from the Bibiyana field amid a debate on the production augmentation and its impact on the reservoir.
The Bibiyana gasfield is believed to be the country's second largest gasfield having a total reserve of around four trillion cubic feet (TCF) gas, while the largest is Petrobangla's Titas gasfield with 7.5 TCF of gas.
Initially, the reserve of Bibiyana was estimated to be 2.5 to 3 TCF. But after development of the gasfield following a three-dimensional (3D) seismic survey with 11 wells drilled, that estimate has been revised by the company.
Though, neither Petrobangla nor Chevron disclosed it officially, the reevaluation of the field was made. The findings were concurrent with a study conducted by a Huston-based energy consulting firm, Scot Ryder.
Experts from both Chevron and Scot Ryder, following their respective studies, said the reserve would be almost double the initial estimate.
Chevron has submitted a report to Petrobangla on the Bibiyana reserve, claiming that it is much larger than the initial estimate.
After coming online around mid-March last year, the Bibiyana field was immediately looked at as a reliable source of energy.
Initially it was slated to supply around 500 mmcf a day to Petrobangla. Petrobangla, however, is now inclined to take up to 530 mmcf gas a day.
Some experts in the country have shown strong reservation over such additional production from the Bibiyana field during its first two or three years of production. They are of the opinion that it may damage the structure of the field.
But another group of experts do not agree. They readily accommodate the view that the Bibiyana field is larger than the initial estimate.