State-owned Petrobangla has started the 2nd phase of the directional drilling of exploratory well No-1 at Srikail North in Comilla district.

Petrobangla officials said the initiative to dig the well is part of the government’s plan to drill a total of 46 exploration, development and work-over wells during the period 2022-2025 to increase production of natural gas from local sources against the backdrop of nagging gas crisis.

Earlier, the Bangladesh Petroleum Exploration and Production Company Limited (Bapex), a subsidiary of Petrobangla, commenced the first phase of the drilling of exploratory well No-1 at Srikail North in June this year.

It has already completed about 182 meters of excavation work in the vertical direction of the well.

The 2nd phase of drilling wells in deviated directions started after procuring the related goods and third party services. The depth of the drilling well will be 3500 m TVD (°100 m).

Bapex's own rig Bijay-12 (ZJ50 DBS) is being used for drilling, said a top official adding that the target is to complete the drilling of the well by the end of the year.

He said that it is expected that the well will produce 10-15 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) per day after completion of the drilling works.

Officials said if the gas is found commercially extractable, it will not need to set up any processing plant as a gas gathering pipeline will be constructed and processed through the nearest processing plant which is located within  5-6 km.

The plant has another 20 mmcfd gas processing capacity and supply to the national grid.

Senior secretary of the Energy and Mineral Resources Division Mahbub Hossain visited the drilling works on Saturday while Petrobangla chairman Nazmul Ahsan and other top officials were present on the occasion.