The Forgotten Gas Frontier

Bangladesh faces a growing gas crisis, with declining domestic output and limited LNG capacity. While new exploration has resumed in the plains, the high-potential Chittagong Hill Tracts remain largely untapped due to legal, technical, and bureaucratic hurdles. Experts urge immediate exploration in key sites like Patiya and Sitapahar through joint ventures or PSCs. With global interest rising and past failures offering lessons, stakeholders stress the need for urgent, strategic action to unlock this long-neglected energy frontier.

- Mollah Amzad Hossain

Bangladesh is running low on one of its most vital lifelines—natural gas. From lighting homes and powering factories to keeping transport and kitchens running, gas fuels much of everyday life. But demand is rising fast, and supply just can't keep up. Even after maxing out the country’s capacity to import liquefied natural gas (LNG), there's still a daily shortfall of about 1,200 million cubic feet. The situation is worsening—local gas production is declining by nearly 200 million cubic feet per year. Currently, domestic production stands at just above 1,800 MMCFD, with nearly half of it coming from a single source: the Bibiyana gas field. But even Bibiyana is showing signs of fatigue, its output steadily declining.

There is a glimmer of hope in Bhola, where a significant gas reserve is close to becoming operational. With a potential to supply 200 MMCFD, it could offer some much-needed relief. But there’s a catch—Bhola isn't yet connected to the national grid. Until new infrastructure is built, that gas might as well be untapped. The earliest it can help ease the crisis is 2030.

Faced with this mounting pressure, Petrobangla decided it could no longer afford to wait. In 2022, after more than two decades of dormancy, it restarted onshore exploration with renewed urgency. The plan: drill 46 wells, including 18 for exploration, as part of a broader 50-well program. By July this year, 20 wells had already been completed. Petrobangla and its affiliated companies—BAPEX, BGFCL, and SGFL—believe the remaining 30 can be drilled by mid-2026.