Russian multinational company Gazprom is going to start drilling high-cost gas wells in Bhola. The company is digging three wells in Bhola at a cost of about Tk 600 crore. However, experts say that leaving out the state company Bapex and giving the work to Gazprom is costing more than double. Gazprom got the job without tender.
First, the Russian company will drill Tobgi-1 exploratory well in Shahbazpur gas field. According to sources in the Energy Department, the excavation will be inaugurated in a day or two. The other two wells are Bhola North’s exploration well Elisha-1 and development well Bhola North-2. Petrobangla believes that exploration and development well drilling by Gazprom will play a major role in combating the current energy crisis. The company says Bhola has huge gas reserves. Exploration has bright prospects for more gas. A Petrobangla official said that on March 5, the project site for drilling the Tobgi well in Bhola was handed over to Gazprom. BAPEX cooperated with Gazprom by providing necessary geological information.
But according to experts, Bhola is a discovered gas field. Bapex discovered it. The local establishment has also dug several wells there. Gazprom will drill the three wells that are being given to Gazprom, following the geological technical instructions (Geological Technical Order or GTO) given by BAPEX at the location determined by BAPEX.
Cab’s Energy Adviser Professor Shamsul Alam alleged that Gazprom was given the job at a higher cost than what the state company Bapex would have spent on drilling these three wells. He said that there was no competition as this work was given without tender under the Special Energy Supply Act. The maximum cost of BAPEX for drilling such wells is 85 crores. There, Gazprom is being paid about 200 crore taka ($2.12 million) per well.
It is reported that Gazprom has proposed a bid of 6.5 million US dollars for the drilling of these three wells. After the discussion, the energy department finalized the price of 63.6 million dollars.
In the last 11 years, Gazprom has drilled 17 wells in Bangladesh, including exploration and development. The contract value of the first 10 of these was around 193 million US dollars. That is, the company took a little more than 1 crore 9 million dollars for each well. The next 7 wells drilled by Gazprom each had a contract price of just over $6 million. Although Gazprom digs at higher prices, the experience of getting gas from these wells is not pleasant.
Out of 10 wells drilled in the first phase, 5 sand-water wells were shut down. These are wells 20 and 21 of Titas gas field, Semungtang 6, Begumganj 3 and Shahbazpur 4. Later BAPEX had to reform these five wells.
The first seismic survey for gas in Bhola was conducted in 1986-87. The first exploration well was drilled in 1994. Three more wells were drilled after this. Bapex started extracting gas from Shahbazpur field in Bhola from May 11, 2009. 5 crore cubic feet of gas is being extracted daily from this gas field.
It is said that this gas field contains one and a half trillion cubic feet of gas. But according to experts, not only Shahbazpur, but entire Bhola has bright potential to get gas. Bhola belongs to Bengal basin. The geological structure in which the gas is found is called ‘Statigraphic Structure’. All other gas fields of the country have been discovered in the Surma Basin.
Gas is currently being supplied to two power plants (225 and 35 MW) in Bhola from Shahbazpur field. Apart from this, gas is also being provided to local shield and residential customers.
