State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid said that domestic oil and gas exploration activities will be further strengthened from all domestic sources. He said that Petrobangla has already started the activities of drilling and re-drilling 46 wells from which 612 million cubic feet of gas will be added to the national grid. Under this program, 112 million cubic feet of gas has already been added to the national grid in 2023 and this activity is ongoing.
He said, the government has a plan to utilize Bhola gas to the maximum. At the same time, gas supply will be ensured in the country's power and industrial sectors where there is a crisis. The State Minister said these things in response to questions from journalists after visiting the Shahbazpur gas field in Borhanuddin, Bhola today, Thursday.
Nasrul Hamid said that Bhola gas will be taken to the mainland within 3 years through a pipeline. Bholadwip is a gas-rich region. Initiatives have been taken to dig 9 more exploration wells here. A two-dimensional seismic survey will be conducted in the Bhola river area. He said that employment opportunities will be created in Bhola by connecting gas to the industrial sector on a priority basis. Currently, 5 million cubic feet of gas is being taken from Bhola daily in the form of CNG for industrial establishments in the mainland of the country. It will be increased to 25 million cubic feet in phases.
The State Minister said that work is underway to provide metered connections for residential and household uses in Bhola municipal area. At that time, Bhola-2 constituency MP Ali Azam Mukul, Secretary of the Energy and Mineral Resources Department Md. Nurul Alam and officials of the concerned ministry were present.
Later, he visited the 220 and 225 combined cycle power plants in Borhanuddin. After that, he inspected the Sundarban Gas Company Ltd. DRS and CNG in Bhola Sadar.