State-run exploration company Bapex has extracted gas on an experimental basis from the country's newly declared 29th gas field Ilisha-1 in Bhola.

The extraction was inaugurated on Monday night under the management of Gazprom, a Russian majority state-owned multinational energy corporation. 

The trial extraction will continue for 2/3 days, according to the sources.

Ilisha-1 has a reserve of 200 billion cubic feet (bcf) of gas. The entire Bhola area, including this one, has a reserve of 3 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of gas, State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid earlier said.

According to BAPEX, the island district Bhola is floating on huge volume of natural gas. Geological surveys are finding gas one after another. Three gas fields and nine wells have been discovered so far. Every well has successfully found a large amount of gas. Bapex has plans to drill five more wells. Not only that, another new gas field may be discovered in this district. If that happens, the number of wells will increase. Bapex will also conduct a survey to verify gas potential in Chharfashan and Monpura.

Bapex general manager of Geophysical Department Md Alamgir Hossain said: "Gas extraction from the new gas field has started, it will continue it for another two/three days. Five more wells have been approved for drilling. Among them, two gas fields are located in Shahbazpur, two in Bhola North and one in Ilisha. BAPEX will survey for more gas."

BDST: 1317 HRS, MAY 23, 2023
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