State-run Bangladesh Petroleum Exploration and Production Company (Bapex) has started drilling at the Mubarakpur gas-field in Sathia Upazila under Pabna district.
Petrobangla Chairman Hossain Monsur inaugurated the drilling on Friday.
“Exploration of oil and gas at this new geological structure is a challenging task. No drilling in the country had been done in a structure like this before. We hope we’ll be successful,” he said while commissioning the work.
Bapex Managing Director Md Abdul Baki, Pabna district Deputy Commissioner Kazi Ashraf Uddin, Sujanagar Upazila Executive Officer and other administrative officials were present.
The drilling started three decades after the gas-field was discovered in 1984.
According to Bapex, the site has 200 to 1000 billion cubic feet of gas and 2.1 million barrels of oil reserves.
Baki said they were using Bapex’s new rig ‘Bijoy-12’ in the drilling work.
He there was a possibility of striking oil besides gas at this field.
Project Director Ataur Rahman said 8.8 acres of land had been acquired for the drilling.
He said the exploration involves drilling down to 4,500 metres into the soil.
Source: bdnews24