Chevron submits $22m plan to raise production

Chevron, the operator of Bibiyana Gas Field, submitted a US$22 million development plan to Petrobangla to install some small size compressors in wells heads to increase pressure for gas production.
Country's biggest gas field Bibiyana has started depleting since 2014 due to over production.
"We need to continue the supply from Bibiyana as it is the major supplier into the national grid, which is around 1200 mmcf of gas per day. However, we are examining it," a senior official at Petrobangla said.
In Chevron's first assessment report (in 2000), the field was assessed to hold a reserve of over 2.4 TCF. In 2008, the field's reserve was reassessed to over 5.7 TCF. Finally, it claimed that the field held a reserve of over 7.2 TCF of gas.
Chevron said it would be able to supply about 1,400 mmcf gas per day, an increase over the current supply of 1,250 mmcfd, by the end of 2015, according to a Petroblangla official.
That time Petrobangla officials expressed concern that Chevron might use its revised reserve claims to justify increased extraction, thereby depleting the field's reserves.
"But no one checked the information in proper manner," the official said preferring anonymity.
The Petrobangla official said sand was being emitted by some wells at Bibiyana field because of the high gas extraction rate. The field has experienced interruption in production more than four times.
Despite all these issues, Chevron submitted a proposal to Petrobangla, saying that it plans to extend in operations in Bangladesh for 10 years under PSCs. The $US 22 million plan includes it.
The well-head pressure in most wells at Bibiyana gas field has dropped by an average of between 950 pounds per square inch (psi) and 1,300 psi, down from a pressure of over 3,000 psi when the field began operation since 2007, according to the Petrobangla. However, the Bibiyana project includes 12 development wells.
Several times experts expressed concern over-production from the largest field, saying that this attempt could damage the field's internal structure and cause the premature death of the gas field, like Sangu gas field.
"Installation of compressor is a regular practice in gas fields for maintaining the production from the field. We need to go for huge drilling plan in onshore and offshore areas to increase our gas output," former energy adviser Dr M Tamim said.
He said, "Before going to signing PSCs in offshore areas, we need primary data on it to stop losing a huge amount of money and time on exploration in Bay."
"I repeatedly said that Bibiyana is depleting very fast. We need to take care of it," he added.
Petrobangla data showed that Bangladesh's reserves of 13.6 trillion cuft of gas would last for 15 years at the rate of depletion agreed with energy companies, but warned that production could end sooner. "If over-extraction is not checked, the supply may dry up within a couple of years," Prof M Shamsul Alam said.
Prof Alam alleged that Chevron had over-extracted gas from the three fields, violating its production-sharing contract, which allows the company to produce no more than 7.5 per cent of proven and probable reserves of gas in a year  (which limits the production within 863 million mmcf per day).
Prof Badrul Imam of Dhaka University's geology department said: "I think that gas is now being overproduced at Bibiyana field. Too much pressure on Bibiyana could damage the natural structure and lead to a Sangu-type situation."
The PSC for Bibiyana Gas Field, produces around 1250mmcfd of gas, will expire in 2029. Besides, the PSCs in Block-13 (Jalalabad) and Block-14 (Maulavibazar) will end before the expiry of Bibiyana Gas Field.