SYLHET, JULY 22: Staff members and officials of the Sylhet Gas Fields Limited (SGFL) have sought return of the Tengratila gas field in Sunamganj to them, the state-run company under Petrobangla.
They have raised the demand after an international court had passed a judgment against the Canadian company Niko in May this year.
The SGFL men believe a fresh seismic survey and drilling the field could make it operational again. It would help raise their existing production level.
Accordingly, Expatriate Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Imran Ahmed recently wrote a demi-official (DO) letter to State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid in response to a request from the SGFL CBA and others. They also said that the issue would be raised in the company's board meeting soon.
Discovered in 1955 under the then PPL, gas extraction was started from a well at Chhatak Gas Field (later named as Tengratila) for supplying gas to the state-run Chhatak Pulp & Paper Mill and Chhatak Cement Factory.
On 08 January 1984, the field alongside Haripur Field was handed over to the SGFL through a Vending Agreement with the government.
Chhatak structure is located at the north end of Surma sub-basin of the Bengal Basin. It was discovered through drilling the well Chhatak-1 at Tengratila in 1959. In 1960, commercial production of gas commenced for the first time in the country by supplying about 4 MMCFD (million cubic feet of gas per day) to Chhatak Cement Factory and Pulp and Paper Mills. It opened a new era in the production and use of natural gas in Bangladesh. It was a landmark in the use of natural gas as an industrial prime-mover.
Production from the well (Chhatak-1) continued up to 1984. After an unsuccessful work-over operation, the production had to be suspended in 1985 due to release of high water and sand contents. Although the SGFL continued maintenance of the gas field spanning over 56 acres of land as usual, in 2003 the Canadian company Niko was entrusted with drilling under a joint venture deal with Bapex.
As the drilling was going on, severe blowouts took place in January and June of 2005 due to negligent operation. At least 10 villages around the gas field and Tengratila bazar were affected seriously. Even the inhabitants had to be evacuated for months due to the huge consequences. Total ecology of the area was extremely affected.
Gas bubbles in good numbers are still seen on the water in ditches around the much-talked -about gas field location. The almost abandoned site had been lying unattended since after the severe bowouts that took place during drilling 15 years ago by the Canadian company Niko, locals said. There are none but some guards on the site.
Since Bangladesh won the case against Niko, the SGFL believes they would be given the 'operational right' to the field as a work-over well could be drilled for resuming production.
SGFL Employees League President Harun Ur Rashid said they had sent a petition to the state minister in this regard.
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