Overall gas production from Cumilla's Srikail well doubled at around 40 mmcfd with initiation of supply output from the newly worked-over Srikail-04 field.
"The well now supplies around 20-million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) of gas to the national gas grid," said Bangladesh Petroleum Exploration and Production Company Ltd (Bapex) managing director Mohammad Ali on Monday.
The field officially started commercial gas supply from Saturday after successful testing last week.
"We got new gas at around 3,200 feet beneath the surface in new gas zone named E sand," he told the FE.
Well head gas pressure is an estimated 3,300 pressure per square inch now, said Mr Ali.
Bapex got the new zone after 55 days of initiating the workover with its own manpower, he added.
Previously, Srikail-4 was supplying around 8.0 mmcfd of gas with around 600 psi before starting the work in August this year.
Separately, Bapex is working to bring new gas from a new structure at Srikail East-01, some seven kilometres away from the currently producing Srikail gas field.
Bapex discovered commercially viable gas at Srikail East-01 in March this year.
Pipeline is now being installed to bring this gas, located in Pakhjipur village under Bangora in Cumilla, into the gas grid.
Work relating to land acquisition and construction of road is also going on, he added.
Around 12 mmcfd of gas can be added to the grid once the new gas well initiates commercial operation.
Bapex has estimated that the well might have around 70 billion cubic feet (BCF) of gas.
There could be a cumulative 16 metres of gas layer unto 3,071 metres depth at the new gas structure.
Bapex drilled some 3,482 metres from the surface to discover the new gas structure.
The country's overall natural gas output is currently hovering around 2,991 mmcfd, including regasified imported liquefied natural gas to the tune of around 524 mmcfd as of November 29, 2020.
Of the total output, Bapex is supplying around 91 mmcfd of gas from its eight operating gas fields against their cumulative production capacity of 145 mmcfd.
azizjst@yahoo.com