Government will drill 100 more gas wells

The gas crisis in the country has become more acute in the last decade. This crisis is constantly increasing. Half of the gas is being supplied against the actual demand through various tensions. This crisis is ongoing due to the decrease in domestic supply and the inability to import sufficient LNG due to the financial crisis. On the one hand, investment is almost stagnating due to the gas crisis, while on the other hand, industrial plants are closing down one after another. In such a situation, the government has taken the initiative to drill 100 more wells outside the ongoing project in order to extract more gas from domestic sources.

According to Petrobangla sources, the interim government also wants to work on a plan for more exploration in line with the plan taken during the ousted Awami League government. Because, all experts say that gas exploration wells should be drilled on a large scale across the country. Although a large gas field is found somewhere, Bangladesh will be relieved from the future fuel crisis to some extent.

A plan submitted by Petrobangla to the Department of Energy recently shows that it has planned to drill 50 existing wells and conduct workover activities for 100 wells. Out of 50 wells drilled under 18 projects, five wells have been completed. In addition, out of 30 well drilling plans, 9 well drilling projects are underway. Another 39 wells have been approved for drilling. Bapex is working on 14 of them. The plan shows that so far, 16 wells have been completed, from which 184 million cubic feet of gas has been found. This has added 72 mmcfd to the national grid. In addition, 100 new well drilling activities have been undertaken. Of these, 69 will be exploration wells and 31 will be workover wells.

Petrobangla has shown in their plan that if the 69 wells are drilled properly, the potential daily gas production will be 985 million cubic feet of gas. If 31 more wells can be worked over, production will increase by 210 million cubic feet of gas. 69 wells will be drilled under 15 projects.

While conducting a financial analysis of 100 wells, Petrobangla showed that about 3,300 crore taka will be spent on this sector in the 2025-26 fiscal year. Of this, 2,320 crore taka will be spent from the government’s own funds and 980 crore taka from the Gas Development Fund. 4,200 crore taka will be spent in the 2026-27 fiscal year. 5,560 crore taka will be spent in the 2027-28 fiscal year, and 6,000 crore taka will be spent in the 2028-29 fiscal year. Of the total taka, 13,350 crore taka will be spent from the government’s own funds. And 5,750 crore taka will be spent from the Gas Development Fund.

According to sources in the Energy Department, Petrobangla plans to drill 100 wells on land between 2026-29 to increase gas production from local sources. Most of these were during the ousted Awami League government. The interim government initially planned to drop these projects. However, various analyses showed that implementing these projects would benefit the country. Later, a decision was taken to drill more exploration wells in line with the previous plan.

Sources said that these gas wells will be drilled under the three distribution companies engaged in gas extraction. Out of these, Bangladesh Petroleum Exploration and Production Company Limited (Bapex) alone will drill 69 wells.

The actual demand for gas in the country is 5,000 million cubic feet. Although Petrobangla has a gas supply capacity of 3,000 million cubic feet on the national grid, an average of 2,700 million cubic feet is being supplied. As a result, there is a huge gas shortage in the country. To meet this shortage and reduce import dependence, the government has emphasized local gas exploration.

According to Petrobangla sources, by drilling 69 wells, Bapex alone will be able to increase the supply of gas to the national grid by another 985 million cubic feet per day by 2029. The remaining 31 wells will be drilled by gas extraction companies Bangladesh Gas Fields Limited (BGFCL) and Sylhet Gas Fields Limited (SGFL).

In this regard, a senior Petrobangla official told our time, now it is necessary to conduct two-dimensional and three-dimensional surveys in every corner of the country and drill a large number of wells in possible places. He said, in the crisis we are in, there is no other way but to drill wells. The official said, we have a very high possibility of getting gas in Bhola, Hatia, and Sandwip areas.

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