New gas reserve found in old well at Sylhet Kailashtila field

New gas reserves fiund in old well at Sylhet Kailashtila._11zon

 New gas reserves have been found by Petrobangla, through a workover of Well No. 1 at the Kailashtila gas field in Golapganj upazila of Sylhet.

The well is expected to supply five million cubic feet of gas per day to the national grid, said project director of the Kailashtila-1 workover, Shafiqul Islam.

The Kailashtila gas field, operated by Sylhet Gas Fields Limited (SGFL), has nine wells. Gas was first discovered in Well No. 1 in 1961 and production continued — with a brief pause — until 2019.

In 2023, workover operations began on several old wells across the country. Under SGFL, workover activities are underway at 14 wells. Seven of these — including Kailashtila-1 — have already been completed and all seven have yielded new gas reserves.

“Once the remaining tasks are completed, the managing director of Sylhet Gas Fields Limited will formally announce the discovery,” he said.

According to SGFL sources, the newly discovered gas could be added to the national grid within two to three days, once all procedures are completed.

Bapex began the workover at Kailashtila-1 about four months ago. Gas was detected at a depth of around 22,000 feet during the process.

Earlier, on September 15, eight million cubic feet of gas per day was added to the national grid from Well No. 3 of the Rashidpur gas field — another old well revived under SGFL.

With the latest additions, SGFL-operated wells are currently supplying an average of 110 million cubic feet of gas per day to the national grid.

On October 22, last year, gas was discovered at Well No. 7 of the Haripur gas field after drilling work was completed. The well is producing 7–8 million cubic feet of gas daily on a trial basis from a depth of 1,200 meters.

On May 24 of the same year, Well No. 8 of the Kailashtila gas field yielded 21 million cubic feet of gas per day during exploration, with reserves found between depths of 3,440 and 5,500 feet.

According to official sources, several ongoing SGFL projects — including exploratory drilling and workovers — are nearing completion. If the expected amount of gas is found in the remaining wells, SGFL alone could supply up to 250 million cubic feet of gas per day to the national grid.

The ongoing exploration and workover projects are costing around Tk 600 crore.

On January 27, last year, a new gas layer was found in Well No. 2 at the Rashidpur field, with reserves estimated at 157 billion cubic feet.

Earlier, on November 26, 2023, gas was discovered at Well No. 10 of the country’s oldest gas field in Haripur. SGFL confirmed the find upon completion of drilling.

On November 22 that year, gas supply to the national grid began from the previously abandoned Well No. 2 at Kailashtila, adding 7 million cubic feet of gas per day.

Sylhet’s Haripur field was the first in Bangladesh where gas was discovered, in 1955. Since then, multiple fields have been found. SGFL currently operates five gas fields: Haripur, Rashidpur, Chhatak, Kailashtila and Beanibazar. Among them, the Chhatak field remains abandoned. - UNB