Semutang set to produce 15-17 mcfd of gas
Sunday, 7 August 2011
FHM Humayan Kabir
The first gas field of Chittagong Hill Tracts, Semutang, is set to produce 15 to 17 million cubic feet per day (mcfd) of gas as its operator Bangladesh Petroleum Exploration and Production Company Ltd (BAPEX) confirmed recoverable reserve last month, officials said Saturday. The officials said the energy-starved industrial hub Chittagong will get Semutang's gas supply from November this year. "We've completed testing at the Semutang field. We are now ready to supply gas as our well is fully prepared," BAPEX General Manger Amzad Hossain told the FE. The state-owned BAPEX is the operator of the Semutang field at Khagrachhari hilly district where the total recoverable gas reserve is 150 billion cubic feet (bcf). Mr Hossain said the Karnaphuli Gas Distribution Company Ltd (KGDCL) has been working to lay 65-kilometre long and 10-inch dia pipeline from Semutang to Chittagong. "After completing the pipeline we will start gas supply," he said. An Energy Division official said the gas pipeline would be ready by November and then the gas production at the Semutang field will be started. Due to acute gas supply shortage, the government had taken "first track" move to develop the prospective Semutang field in the Hill Tracts in a bid to augment energy supply to the south-eastern industrial area of the country. Gas supply crisis in the country's largest port city Chittagong has been a big blow to the industrial growth there. More than a hundred industrialists of the region are waiting for gas connection to their installed or planned-to-be-installed factories. The newly set up gas distribution company KGDCL is supplying nearly 300 mcfd of gas against the demand for over 400 mcfd to the region. The smooth gas supply system in Chittagong was broken down when the country's lone offshore field Sangu's production slipped drastically to some 16 mcfd of gas from its original capacity of 150 mcfd four years ago.
The first gas field of Chittagong Hill Tracts, Semutang, is set to produce 15 to 17 million cubic feet per day (mcfd) of gas as its operator Bangladesh Petroleum Exploration and Production Company Ltd (BAPEX) confirmed recoverable reserve last month, officials said Saturday. The officials said the energy-starved industrial hub Chittagong will get Semutang's gas supply from November this year. "We've completed testing at the Semutang field. We are now ready to supply gas as our well is fully prepared," BAPEX General Manger Amzad Hossain told the FE. The state-owned BAPEX is the operator of the Semutang field at Khagrachhari hilly district where the total recoverable gas reserve is 150 billion cubic feet (bcf). Mr Hossain said the Karnaphuli Gas Distribution Company Ltd (KGDCL) has been working to lay 65-kilometre long and 10-inch dia pipeline from Semutang to Chittagong. "After completing the pipeline we will start gas supply," he said. An Energy Division official said the gas pipeline would be ready by November and then the gas production at the Semutang field will be started. Due to acute gas supply shortage, the government had taken "first track" move to develop the prospective Semutang field in the Hill Tracts in a bid to augment energy supply to the south-eastern industrial area of the country. Gas supply crisis in the country's largest port city Chittagong has been a big blow to the industrial growth there. More than a hundred industrialists of the region are waiting for gas connection to their installed or planned-to-be-installed factories. The newly set up gas distribution company KGDCL is supplying nearly 300 mcfd of gas against the demand for over 400 mcfd to the region. The smooth gas supply system in Chittagong was broken down when the country's lone offshore field Sangu's production slipped drastically to some 16 mcfd of gas from its original capacity of 150 mcfd four years ago.