How to meet the deficit in gas production

The crisis in gas supply is more alarming than any time in the past. There are two reasons behind this gas crisis. Firstly, the production rate in many gas wells in the country has reduced, bringing down the total gas production. Secondly, the import of LNG to meet the gas shortage has also decreased in comparison to requirements.

On one had the people in residential areas are suffering as they are not being able to cook on the gas stoves, and on the other hand industrial production is being hampered too because of gas shortage. The people for the time being are not suffering from power cuts as there is less electricity usage in winter, but after three or four months when the demand for electricity will increase in the summer, the gas shortage will lead to frequent power outages.

Extensive urbanisation and industrialisation has led to a significant increase in the demand for gas. The initiative to import LNG from abroad to meet the deficit of gas supply at home, has failed to meet the demand on two counts. Firstly, LNG is a costly form of energy. We lack of capacity when it comes to meet the exorbitant costs of LNG. Secondly, there is a lack of adequate management to bring in LNG and transform that into gas.

If we take into consideration the overall picture of gas supply in the country, we will see that it is not only now that the gas supply is dropping. Over the years there has been a steady decline in gas production. In 2016 gas production had been 973 billion cft. In 2022 that came down to 840 billion cft. In mid-2020 daily gas production has been around 2,500 million cft (units), which steadily fell to 2,150 units in mid-2023m and now stands at 2,050 units.

In the sixties when the internationally reputed Shell Oil company discovered five world class gas fields in Bangladesh, the country found place on the world gas map. These five gas fields are Titas, Habiganj, Kailashtila, Bakhrabad and Rashidpur. More gas fields were discovered after the independence of Bangladesh, but those were relatively small and did not add significantly to the overall gas reserves. The discovery of a large gas field like Bibiyana in Sylhet in 1997 once again proved that the potential of massive gas reserves in Bangladesh still existed.

For obvious reasons, Bangladesh became extremely dependent on its main primary energy source, gas. As a result, reserves in the large gas fields of the country began to fall. The primary reserves of Titas, the largest gas field in the country discovered in 1962, had been 6.36 trillion cft. Used extensively, by 2023 the Titas reserves stood at 1.14 tcf. Similarly, the reserves in Habiganj fell from 2.63 tcf to 0.97 tcf in 2023. The 1.23 tcf reserve of Bakhrabad fell to 0.35 tcf in 2023. Even the reserves of Bibiyana, with the highest production, fell from 5.75 tcf to only 0.33 tcf at present. The lone offshore gas field Sangu is now exhausted and abandoned.

From these figures it is evident that the original gas fields in the country have lost their reserves and capacity, and these cannot be relied upon in the future for sustainable gas production. Under the circumstances, there is no alternative but to carry out exploration and extraction of new gas for the sake of future energy security. The country’s geological structure indicates the potential of discovering gas.

Against the present demand of around 4000 million cft of gas in the country, the supply is 2,900 million cft. A total of 78 per cent of the gas supply comes from local production and the remaining 22 per cent from imported LNG. On one hand local production is steadily decreasing, and on the other hand, there remains uncertainty in import due the unstable LNG process in the international market and the infrastructural weaknesses within the country for LNG supply.

Gas production in the Bangladeshi wells is comparatively lower than the foreign companies’ wells. Experts feel that it is possible to increase gas production from local wells and it is imperative that this is done.

Experts feel that the prevailing gas crisis is not because of any shortage of gas in the country, but due to the failure to extract and utilise the existing gas reserves. If the production wells are increased in any gas field, gas production will increase in that field. Chhatak is a large gas field in Sylhet region. In the past gas was produced from only one well there. Later there was a blowout accident there and production was suspended. Large scale production is still possible from there.

Kailashtila and Rashidpur gas fields, operated by state-owned companies, are two among the five largest fields of the country. A total of 30 million cft is produced daily from just four wells of the Kailashtila field. A total of 40 million cft of gas is produced daily from five wells of the Rashidpur field. In comparison, 1,100 cft of gas is produced daily from 26 wells of the adjacent Bibiyana gas field, operated by a foreign firm.

Another matter to be taken into consideration regarding an increase in gas production, is increasing the production per well. Titas is Bangladesh’s largest gas field. Operated by the state-owned company, 390 million cft of gas is produced daily from 26 wells of this field. So each well of Titas produced 15 million cft of gas while it is possible to produce 1,100 cft of gas from the 26 wells of Bibiyana, the largest gas field in the country, operated by Chevron. That means each well of this field produces 42 million cft of gas on average. So even though Titas has a larger reserve of gas than Bibiyana, it produces only one third of Bibiyana. That is because the production per well in Bibiyana is higher than that of Titas.

In 2011 Petrobangla appointed the internationally reputed oil and gas company Slamburger to examine the state operated gas fields ad determine how gas production could be stepped up. After carrying out their work for a year or so, Slamburger indentified 49 gas fields in the country where production was low due to technical weaknesses. The company recommended certain simple technical management in these fields, basically involving certain repairs, adjustments and addition of certain equipment (such tubing with a wider diameter), etc. It would be possible to carry out such work at the mouth of the wells, above ground. But Petrobangla did not undertake any operations to carry out these recommendations.

It is clear from the above deliberations that there is need for improved technical management in gas extraction by the state companies. This is starkly clear when comparing the gas extraction operations run by the state-owned company, with that of the foreign companies. Gas science is not rocket science and we have the capacity to work as required. If Bangladesh is to maintain international standards in its gas fields, it must focus on advanced technical management.

* Dr Badrul Imam is honorary professor, department of geology, Dhaka University

* This column appeared in the print and online edition of Prothom Alo and has been rewritten for the English edition by Ayesha Kabir