Can BAPEX do it alone?

The state-run Bangladesh Petroleum Exploration and Production Company (BAPEX) was tasked with extracting 618 million cubic feet gas daily (mmcf/d) by 2025 to overcome the extreme energy shortage in the country.

Experts say the decision was imposed on BAPEX. It is not at all possible to fulfill the target because BAPEX doesn’t have enough capacity alone.

The workover jobs should be done by reputed international drilling contractor at affordable cost, they suggested.

The two contracts have already been signed with the Chinese company Sinopec and Russian energy giant Gazprom’s international’s concern Gazprom EP International BV for four development and exploration gas well drillings in Sylhet and Bhola region.

However, there is an intense debate over hiring drilling contractors in the country because the Gazprom EP has been tasked with drilling development well twice as much as the cost of the BAPEX.

Experts repeatedly warned but the government did not pay any heed.

Meanwhile, a controversy has been arisen out of excavation works of Gazprom in Shahbazpur Gas Field in Bhola due to the BAPEX’s claim to the Tabgi-1, an exploration well which is basically a development well, as a gas field discovered by it.

Geologist Professor Badrul Imam told The Business Post that drilling of a well started in the Shahbazpur Gas Field discovered by BAPEX in 1998. It was named Tabgi-1 well and so this is a development well.

But the BAPEX declared the well as an exploration well which violates the basic definition of gas science. “I think BAPEX did this under the administrative pressure from the high-up to justify the extra cost of Gazprom.”

Mohammad Ali, Managing Director of BAPEX, however, told this correspondent that BAPEX’s geological and geophysical management study termed Tabgi-1 an exploration well. It was not done under any pressure, he claimed.

How successful BAPEX will be?

Since 2017, the country has been facing gas crisis but ongoing crisis is harder than any time in the past.

Considering this the Energy and Mineral Resource Division announced that it would drill 46 wells (workover, development and exploration) by December 2025 to extract 618 mmcf/d of gas from domestic sources that has already started.

The Energy Division says 12 of the 46 wells are development wells in a conventional gas field, 17 wells require workovers and the remaining 17 are exploration wells.

Mortuza Ahmed Faruque, a former Managing Director of BAPEX, said the government imposed 108 wells drilling works on BAPEX a few years ago. The capacity required for this was never given to the company and so the work was not supposed to be completed by 2021.

A similar decision was imposed on the BAPEX which will not be possible for it to do.

A BAPEX official said five are deep wells, of which 17 exploration wells will be drilled at a depth of more than 5,500 meters and a target of around 70 mmcf/d of gas extraction was set.

Earlier several initiatives have been taken to dig such deep wells but they saw no progress due to pressure from the high-ups.

On condition of anonymity another former Managing Director of BAPEX told this correspondent that BAPEX had targeted 100 mmmcf/d of gas extraction from Bhola and Shahbazpur Gas Fields.

But there will be no profit because there is no pipeline and still there is 400 million cubic feet left for BAPEX to extract. Nobody ensure the gas will be found by exploration wells.

He suggested that the wells workover should be done by reputed international drilling contractors.

Mortuza Ahmed Faruque said if 17 development wells are prepared, gas can be obtained. After extracting gas, process plants and pipelines have to be built somewhere, which is quite a subjective matter.

He also suggested keeping the exploration and development wells to BAPEX and giving the workover to reliable foreign contractors.

Foreign contractor and Chevron’s new initiatives

Petrobangla and BAPEX sources say eight wells out of the 46 will be drilled by foreign contractors. One has already been given to Sinopec (Sylhet-10) and three others to Gazprom (Tobgi-1, Elisha and Bhola North).

Bangladesh Gas Fields Limited (BGFCL) is simultaneously preparing tenders for drilling three exploration and one development wells.

BAPEX MD Mohammad Ali said the pressure of a large part of the work had already been reduced by BAPEX. He demanded that BAPEX should dig the remaining 38 wells.

Meanwhile, Petrobangla says some more development activities have been taken in Bibiyana and Jalalabad gas fields to increase domestic gas extraction.

The 60 square kilometers of area of Bibiyana is being given to US energy company Chevron for new gas exploration in terms of existing Production Sharing Contract (PSC).

An official of Petrobangla said the deal with Chevron had been made this month.

He said the gas production contract period of Jalalabad and Moulvibazar field with Chevron had been extended for 10 years.

The Chevron will now extract gas from those two fields until 2030.

He said Chevron was operating the three gas fields under three separate PSCs. Besides, Chevron will also conduct a survey across the Surma Basin to identify gas potentiality.