Bangladesh Petroleum Exploration and Production Company Limited (Bapex) has initiated drilling works at a new gas well in Boro Charigaon village under Nabipur Union of Senbagh upazila in Noakhali district.
If the drilling and subsequent Drill Stem Test (DST) are successfully completed, an estimated 7 million cubic feet of natural gas per day (mmcfd) could be added to the national grid, according to preliminary assessments by Bapex.
Bapex inaugurated the drilling operations for the project, titled "Sundalpur-4 Evaluation-cum-Development Well Drilling Project," on Tuesday afternoon and full-scale drilling operations commenced on Wednesday.
Zakir Hossain Khan, Drilling In-Charge of the Sundalpur-4 project, said the reserve volume will be confirmed following 45 days of continuous drilling and a subsequent 15-day DST testing period.
Bapex has set a primary drilling depth target of 1,550 meters underground. Natural gas deposits are expected across two potential zones situated at depths of 1,361 meters and 1,450 meters.
The drilling is being conducted using the directional well method alongside Measurement While Drilling (MWD) technology.
Historical data from Bapex shows that gas exploration in the region dates back to 1976 when the first well was discovered in Begumganj.
A second well was discovered in 1978, though subsequent drilling in both wells yielded no gas. In 2013, a third well was successfully drilled and brought into production, which, following a workover in 2018, currently supplies 8 mmcfd to the national grid.
In addition, Bapex previously drilled three wells in Noakhali designated as Sundalpur-1, Sundalpur-2, and Sundalpur-3. While production at Sundalpur-1 and Sundalpur-3 is currently suspended, Sundalpur-2 continues to supply gas to the national grid.
Production at Sundalpur-3 is expected to resume once ongoing workover activities are completed.
The development comes amid a widespread gas shortage across various regions, including Dhaka, over the past week following a fire at a floating Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) terminal in Cox's Bazar.
The supply drop has disrupted domestic cooking, halted industrial production, exacerbated load shedding due to reduced power generation, and caused long queues of vehicles at CNG filling stations.