Almost two and half years have already been passed since the discovery of Rupganj gas field in Narayanganj but, the gas was not added to the national grid yet.
The gas field was discovered by the State-owned Petrobangla’s exploration wing Bangladesh Petroleum Exploration and Production Company Ltd (Bapex). Petrobangla in June 2014 declared Rupganj the 26th new gas field in Bangladesh. But the plant couldn’t supply any gas to the national grid yet due to some implications related to pipeline installation.
Sources from Energy and Mineral Resources Division said that, the gas field of Rupganj is situated in the residential area of Purbachol. That’s why, Roads and Highway Department (RHD) is not giving any clearance for the last couple of months and sources confirmed that, RHD must approve the pipeline to get the project going on. In a situation like this, Titas Gas has informed this situation to the Energy Division recently.
A processing plant worth Tk60 crore was built on the field to supply gas into the grid, but it is sitting idle due to not having any transmission line. Bapex sources that the plant would start adding gas to the national grid by the end of 2015 but it got stuck. The cost of digging the gas field well was around Tk100 crore.
Seeking anonymity one of the high officials of the Energy division informed that, “we’ve tried our level best to get the approval but failed and as a result, we informed the issue to the high command of the government.” A meeting headed by Chief Secretary Abul Kalam Azad is about to be held regarding this issue on Sunday.
Bapex Managing Director Atiquzzaman said that, the Rupganj field has the capability to supply 10 million cubic feet (mmcft) of gas daily. However, Bapex is looking forward to conduct and finish another 3D survey to estimate the total reserve of gas, he added.
Sources from Bapex confirmed that, the existence of gas was found at a depth of 3,600 meters at the Rupganj field. However, there was another layer found at 3,300 meter which has a thickness of 6 meters, reported Bapex.
Narayanganj is an industrial area, which has a huge demand for gas. Rupganj field will be enough to feed a 50MW power plant or around 100 large scale industries in that vicinity, said an official from Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Company Limited.