Govt moves to plug Titas gas seepage
Sunday, 19 December 2010
M Azizur Rahman
The government has decided to plug the perpetual leakage of gas from a Titas gas field spending Tk 2.50 billion from its own coffer after a multilateral lender declined to finance the project, officials said Wednesday.
"We will finalise a detailed work plan shortly to kill the gas seepage in state-owned Titas gas field," Petrobangla chairman Dr Hussain Monsur said.
He said the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) has already approved the development project proposal (DPP) worth Tk 2.50 billion for the project.
The decision comes after years of talks with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for US$120 million funds doomed into failure.
The ADB, however, agreed to fund only Tk 70 million as technical assistance for the project.
Seepage in Titas gas field, owned by Petrobangla's subsidiary Bangladesh Gas Fields Company Limited (BGFCL), is now at 'alarming' stage as gas has been flowing unabated through thousands of small and big holes in the area since detection of the seepage in 2005. Gas bubbles are also visible in nearby Titas river.
Titas gas field is considered the lifeline of the country's energy sector as it has provided reliable gas since it started production around five decades ago.
But damage of the field structure and depletion of its overall reserve are inevitable if the gas seepage continues, said a BGFCL official.
In 2008 the government engaged a US company Boots & Coots to kill the number three well of Titas at a cost of US$7.4 million.
The company was able to kill Titas's well no. 3 but the overall Titas seepage could not be brought under control.
A total of 14 wells of Titas are operational, which can produce around 410 million cubic feet of gas a day. The output is one-fourth of the country's total daily gas production of around 1980 mmcf.
State-owned Bangladesh Petroleum Exploration Company (BAPEX) in collaboration with Thai energy firm PTT Exploration and Production Company also carried out scrutiny over the gas seepage.
The government has decided to plug the perpetual leakage of gas from a Titas gas field spending Tk 2.50 billion from its own coffer after a multilateral lender declined to finance the project, officials said Wednesday.
"We will finalise a detailed work plan shortly to kill the gas seepage in state-owned Titas gas field," Petrobangla chairman Dr Hussain Monsur said.
He said the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) has already approved the development project proposal (DPP) worth Tk 2.50 billion for the project.
The decision comes after years of talks with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for US$120 million funds doomed into failure.
The ADB, however, agreed to fund only Tk 70 million as technical assistance for the project.
Seepage in Titas gas field, owned by Petrobangla's subsidiary Bangladesh Gas Fields Company Limited (BGFCL), is now at 'alarming' stage as gas has been flowing unabated through thousands of small and big holes in the area since detection of the seepage in 2005. Gas bubbles are also visible in nearby Titas river.
Titas gas field is considered the lifeline of the country's energy sector as it has provided reliable gas since it started production around five decades ago.
But damage of the field structure and depletion of its overall reserve are inevitable if the gas seepage continues, said a BGFCL official.
In 2008 the government engaged a US company Boots & Coots to kill the number three well of Titas at a cost of US$7.4 million.
The company was able to kill Titas's well no. 3 but the overall Titas seepage could not be brought under control.
A total of 14 wells of Titas are operational, which can produce around 410 million cubic feet of gas a day. The output is one-fourth of the country's total daily gas production of around 1980 mmcf.
State-owned Bangladesh Petroleum Exploration Company (BAPEX) in collaboration with Thai energy firm PTT Exploration and Production Company also carried out scrutiny over the gas seepage.