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Download PDF The threat of a catastrophic blowout at Titas Gas Field in Brahmanbaria has finally been subdued as the authorities managed to reduce the amount of uncontrolled gas discharge from 15-18 million cubic feet a day (mmcfd) to 8-9 mmcfd.
More than half of the uncontrolled discharged gas is now being diverted to the processing plant while the rest is being burned through a pipe outlet, officials concerned told a group of journalists during their visit to the Titas Gas Field yesterday.
“A blowout prevention expert, Bob Grace of GSM, is coming from Canada tomorrow [today]. Once he arrives, he will assess all our survey reports and then we will jointly decide the next course of action to bring the total gas leakage under control,” said Muqtadir Ali, director (PSC) of Petrobangla.
Responding to a question, the managing director of Bangladesh Gas Field Company Ltd (BGFCL) claimed that the gas field suffered a loss of Tk 73 lakh during 54 hours from April 16 to April 18. He could not however say how long the gas leakage will continue.
“We will try to bring the leakage under control as soon as possible with the assistance of the foreign consultant,” he said.
Sporadic gas leakage from various points of the ground in Brahmanbaria had been noticed for the last three to five years. The phenomenon reached an alarming state since the last dry season.
After identifying excessive gas pressure, the authorities assigned local petroleum exploration company Bapex last month to fix the uncontrolled leakage. It tried to control the pressure by injecting chemicals and mud into the well and finally by burning the gas.
“But the situation turned so serious that it was beyond Bapex’s reach. That’s why it [Bapex] stopped injecting liquids [chemicals] in the third well fearing a major blowout,” said MA Baqi, general manager (geology) of Bapex.
As there is no expert on blowouts in Bangladesh, the authorities through discussions decided to hire a foreign expert, he added.
Asked if the government is responsible for taking too long to decide on hiring a foreign expert, he justified by saying that Bapex had handled such cases before.
“The issue did not reach the breakeven point when we should have hired a foreign consultant,” he said.
When asked who would be responsible for the damages caused by the gas release, engineer Shahidul Abedin, managing director of BGFCL, said, “Such incidents are professional hazards.”
“We identified excessive gas pressure in the third well only in March this year. This might be due to leakage or structural reasons. We tried our best to control it with the help of Bapex,” Abedin explained.
He hoped that the situation would be under control very soon, but could not specify any timeline.
“Once we are able to kill the third well, we will take care of other faults in the gas field,” he said.
The 38-year old Titas Gas Field produces 400 mmcfd gas against the country’s total gas demand of 1500 mmcfd. Discovered in the early sixties by Shell Oil, Titas was estimated to have a gas reserve of 5.12 trillion cubic feet (tcf). After four decades, the reserve now stands at 2.78 tcf.
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