Polish firm to drill 8 onshore gas wells
Tuesday, 30 November 2010
M Azizur Rahman
Polish oil and gas exploration company Krakow Ltd has won the contract to drill over half a dozen wells in the country's state-owned onshore gas fields, officials said Monday.
"The Polish firm has been selected to develop and produce natural gas from at least eight gas wells in under-explored hydrocarbon-rich fields to boost output in the wake of the country's acute energy crisis, "Petrobangla Chairman Dr Hussain Monsur told the FE.
After developing wells for gas production Krakow will hand over those to the state-owned companies.
There would be no sharing of the proceeds of gas sales with the foreign companies, he said.
But Krakow would be paid for its job from the state coffer, said the chief of the state-owned Petrobangla.
Krakow has been selected considering its technical and financial offers and its experiences in conducting hydrocarbon exploration activities, said the Petrobangla official.
Petrobangla in September 2009 had sought expression of interests for drilling in state-owned gas fields and Krakow has emerged as the winner out of the 25 global companies that had participated in the bid.
Krakow will develop the gas wells in several hydrocarbon-rich fields, owned by Petrobangla subsidiaries, Bangladesh Gas Fields Company Ltd (BGFCL) and Sylhet Gas Fields Company Ltd (SGFCL).
Currently both the BGFCL and the SGFCL have five gas operating fields each but their gas output is around 730 million cubic feet (mmcfd) and 165 mmcfd per day respectively.
Experts said the two fields they operate are gas-rich but under-explored.
"We expect that at least eight new wells would be developed in the gas fields owned by these two companies and each of the wells would produce gas of around 25 mmcfd," said Petrobangla Chairman.
Krakow's selection is, however, for the first time that Bangladesh is appointing any global firm to conduct drilling in state-operated gas fields.
The extraordinary move is taken due to a severe capacity constraint of the state-owned lone gas exploration and development company Bangladesh Petroleum Exploration and Production Company Ltd (BAPEX), which has limited equipment and manpower and a very busy workload.
The move under 'fast track' programme was initiated in the wake of severe energy crunch in the country, as gas production now hovers around 1,960 mmcfd against the daily demand for around 2,500 mmcfd.
The country urgently needs new energy sources, and unless new gas fields are discovered, the supply of gas will start diminishing from 2011.
Petrobangla forecasts that the country's current gas reserves will run out by 2014-2015 at current consumption rates.
At present, proven gas reserves are 6.0 trillion cubic feet (Tcf), while the probable reserves are 5.5 Tcf.
The gas supply shortfall has forced Petrobangla to suspend gas supplies to new industries. Industries are now maintaining holiday staggering to cope with the short supply of natural gas.
It also suspended the operation of several state-owned power plants due to gas crisis.
The country's compressed natural gas (CNG) filling stations have also been maintaining six-hour halt in operation from 3 pm--9 pm every day.
Polish oil and gas exploration company Krakow Ltd has won the contract to drill over half a dozen wells in the country's state-owned onshore gas fields, officials said Monday.
"The Polish firm has been selected to develop and produce natural gas from at least eight gas wells in under-explored hydrocarbon-rich fields to boost output in the wake of the country's acute energy crisis, "Petrobangla Chairman Dr Hussain Monsur told the FE.
After developing wells for gas production Krakow will hand over those to the state-owned companies.
There would be no sharing of the proceeds of gas sales with the foreign companies, he said.
But Krakow would be paid for its job from the state coffer, said the chief of the state-owned Petrobangla.
Krakow has been selected considering its technical and financial offers and its experiences in conducting hydrocarbon exploration activities, said the Petrobangla official.
Petrobangla in September 2009 had sought expression of interests for drilling in state-owned gas fields and Krakow has emerged as the winner out of the 25 global companies that had participated in the bid.
Krakow will develop the gas wells in several hydrocarbon-rich fields, owned by Petrobangla subsidiaries, Bangladesh Gas Fields Company Ltd (BGFCL) and Sylhet Gas Fields Company Ltd (SGFCL).
Currently both the BGFCL and the SGFCL have five gas operating fields each but their gas output is around 730 million cubic feet (mmcfd) and 165 mmcfd per day respectively.
Experts said the two fields they operate are gas-rich but under-explored.
"We expect that at least eight new wells would be developed in the gas fields owned by these two companies and each of the wells would produce gas of around 25 mmcfd," said Petrobangla Chairman.
Krakow's selection is, however, for the first time that Bangladesh is appointing any global firm to conduct drilling in state-operated gas fields.
The extraordinary move is taken due to a severe capacity constraint of the state-owned lone gas exploration and development company Bangladesh Petroleum Exploration and Production Company Ltd (BAPEX), which has limited equipment and manpower and a very busy workload.
The move under 'fast track' programme was initiated in the wake of severe energy crunch in the country, as gas production now hovers around 1,960 mmcfd against the daily demand for around 2,500 mmcfd.
The country urgently needs new energy sources, and unless new gas fields are discovered, the supply of gas will start diminishing from 2011.
Petrobangla forecasts that the country's current gas reserves will run out by 2014-2015 at current consumption rates.
At present, proven gas reserves are 6.0 trillion cubic feet (Tcf), while the probable reserves are 5.5 Tcf.
The gas supply shortfall has forced Petrobangla to suspend gas supplies to new industries. Industries are now maintaining holiday staggering to cope with the short supply of natural gas.
It also suspended the operation of several state-owned power plants due to gas crisis.
The country's compressed natural gas (CNG) filling stations have also been maintaining six-hour halt in operation from 3 pm--9 pm every day.