National grid starts receiving newly discovered gas from Koilashtila

Newly found natural gas from Kailastila field has started flowing into the national grid boosting the country’s overall supply of the fuel, officials said on Monday.

“The newly discovered gas started coming to the national grid from Monday”, said Nazmul Ahsan, chairman of the state-owned Petrobangla.

“We hope the gas will regularly be supplied to the national gas network from Tuesday through a permanent transmission line”, he told UNB.       

Sylhet Gas Field Limited (SGFL), a subsidiary of Petrobangla discovered the new gas on May 2 at the Koilashtila field from an abandoned well through a work-over process.

The well will regularly supply about 20 million cubic feet of gas per day (MMCFD), said the officials.

State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid made the announcement of the discovery through his Facebook status on 2 May.

The ministry also in a press release confirmed the discovery saying that it will be possible to supply between 17-19 MMCFD gas to the national grid from May 10.

A discovery of about 17-19 MMCFD gas and 187 barrels of condensates has been confirmed through a work-over process by logging, perfection and testing in the lower gas sand zone of the Koilashtila gas field.

It is expected that the current zone of the gas field will continue  production for next several years, the ministry said adding, the remaining recoverable gas reserves in the Koilashtila field is 758 billion cubic feet (BCF) which could be gradually produced through different wells.

So far, seven wells have been drilled in the Koilashtila gas field of which 2 are now producing about 29 MMCFD gas.

Energy industry insiders said the new, but small, discovery will give a minimum relief to the government when the country has been experiencing a huge gas shortage of more than 600 MMCFD.

The country’s total supply now stands at 2950 MMCFD against a demand for over 3600 MMCFD.

Of this, the country’s 27 gas fields can supply 2200 MMCFD while remaining 750 MMCFD is met by imported liquefied natural gas (LNG).

The recent Russia-Ukraine war made the global import market volatile pushing up the gas price to over $37 per MMBtu from below $10.   

As a result, the government has to spend a huge amount of foreign currency to import the natural gas, said the gas industry sources.