At least three feasible onshore gas fields and three wells have remained "forced idle" for years due to cases pending with local and international courts, slowing down the much-needed oil-gas discovery.
Inadequate exploration in potential gas fields is aggravating the country's energy crisis with growing dependency on expensive liquefied natural gas (LNG).
The idle gas fields are Feni, Chhatak and Kamta, and the wells are Begumganj-04, Motherganj-01 and Bangora north, says a senior Petrobangla official.
Energy experts blame a weak move by the government to settle the long-pending court issues.
It has been 'abnormally long time' that the gas fields are kept idle, energy expert Prof Badrul Imam told the FE on Thursday.
Mr Imam, who teaches geology at Dhaka University, suggests that the government expedite its drive to explore these fields.
Given the current energy crisis, Prof Ijaz Hossain of top engineering school BUET also suggests keeping these fields and wells on a priority list for exploration.
Both the experts demand that steps be taken to initiate exploration of these fields as soon as possible to tackle the looming energy crisis.
Officials say necessary excavations in onshore fields Feni, Chhatak and Kamta were halted in 2005 following two back-to-back blowouts at Chhatak gas field, also known as Tengratila field, in 2005.
Canadian firm Niko Resources's exploration job in Bangladesh was stopped following the blowouts, which resulted in a row over payment of gas sales and compensation for blowouts.
Both parties -- state-owned Petrobangla and Niko -- took the issues to the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) for settlement.
After over a decade of trial, the ICSID in its verdict made Niko liable for the two consecutive blowouts.
Bangladesh submitted claims for a total loss of $1.014 billion to the ICSID -- $896 million as the loss of government and $118 million as the loss of Bapex.
It also added losses of environmental and human health, which will add up to the overall compensation claims.
But Bangladesh's chance of realising funds from Niko is bleak as the Canadian company has already been declared 'bankrupt'.
Sources say one benefit is that the country need not pay Niko around $30 million for Feni gas that it produced for a couple of years before the row.
The ICSID's final verdict is yet to come.
Begumganj-04 well in Noakhali and Motherganj-01 in Jamalpur lie idle for a row over payments and other issues between BAPEX and Azerbaijan's state oil-gas company Socar AQS.
It sued the Bangladesh Petroleum Exploration and Production Company Ltd (BAPEX) at the Singapore International Arbitration Centre over an overdue payment row regarding the drill of three onshore wells.
Socar sought compensation in connection with its drilling job in Bangladesh.
The BAPEX appointed the firm in 2017 for doing the drilling at a cost of an estimated $33 million.
The Azerbaijan firm was paid around $11.8 million against its drilling of Semutang South-01 well in Khagrachhari under Chattogram division.
Semutang is the maiden well that Socar drilled. The well was found dry after drilling. Begumganj-04 and Motherganj-01 were the two other gas wells, Socar was bound to drill as per the contract.
The dispute between Socar and BAPEX surfaced when Socar moved to drill Begumganj well claiming an additional $6.0 million in advance for preparatory work.
In June 2019, Socar informed Bapex of its decision to terminate the contract for what it said not paying within 28 working days into completion of work.
It was, however, alleged that Socar took almost double its stimulated time to complete the drilling.
Socar's drilling cost was among the lowest compared to deals with other foreign firms involved in similar drilling jobs under the BAPEX. Socar left Bangladesh without finishing the drilling job it was assigned for, it was also alleged.
This was the first in the domestic oil-gas sector that an international oil company left the job unfinished without making dues to the relevant service providers.
Row over payment of $36.80-million income tax delayed necessary exploration in prospective Bangora well, according to the Petrobangla official.
Gas output from Bangora, operated by Singapore-based KrisEnergy, came down to around 52 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) over the past seven years due to inadequate exploration.
The field will go dry if the current downtrend in natural gas supply continues for the next five to six years, according to officials.
Currently, the country's overall natural gas production is around 3,000 mmcfd, including the supply of regasified LNG to the tune of around 700 mmcfd, according to Petrobangla.
Its overall demand for gas is more than 4,100 mmcfd.
