Work begins to convert Haripur oil well into gas well

According to seismic survey done in 1971, gas reserve in the well is 683.85 billion CFT and recoverable reserve is 444.5 billion CFT. Present recoverable reserve is 275 billion CFT and 20 MMCF gas could be extracted per day, said officials.

State owned BAPEX is developing the well for gas extraction. It is expected to be completed in February, they said. It involves an expenditure of Tk 13 crore including a foreign exchange component of Tk 7.1 crore.

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The Haripur well, now under Sylhet Gas Field Company Limited, is the first oil well discovered in the country in 1986 with financial assistance from Asian Develop-ment Bank (ADB).

Though the target was to drill up to 2100 metres, three gas zones and an oil zone were struck at a depth between 2009-2033 metres.

The well was converted into an oil well at that time.

The well produced 5.6 lakh barrels of crude during the period from December 1987 to July 1994.

But, production was stopped in July 1994 due to drastic fall in pressure.

It was then sealed. Later decisions were taken several times to convert the well into a gas well, but no step was taken.

The well is about 19 kilometres off Sylhet city.

The country's first gas well (Well No. 1) was drilled in the Haripur structure in 1955 by the then Pakistan Petroleum Limited.

Subsequently, some more wells were drilled there and commercial gas production began in Well No. 3 and Well No. 6.

But due to technical reasons, production was stopped in Well No. 3 in 1978 while production continued to fall in Well No. 6, which is now producing 5 MMCFD gas.

The Sylhet Gas Field Company (SGFL) has five gas fields at Haripur, Kailashtila, Rashidpur, Beanibazar and Chhatak.

Of these, one in Haripur, two in Kailashtila, seven in of Rashidpur and two in Beanibazar are in production. On an average, 6 MMCM gas is produced from these 12 wells and supplied to the different Titash Gas Transmission and Distribution Company Limited, Bakhrabad Gas Systems Limited and Jalalabad Gas Transmission and Distribution Limited.

At the same time, 197 kilolitres of condensate and 92 kilolitres of NGL is produced as by-product.