& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

Sunamganj Gas Field Blow-out

Fire tamed, but severe damage feared

Shakier Khan in Dhaka. Iqbal Siddiqui in syiha
The raging flames that had leapt 300 feet at Tengratila gas field in Sunamganj early Saturday subsided to 10 to 30 feet yesterday afternoon, indicating the fury of the inferno might be over much earlier than offlcialshadprcdicted.
But geological experts said the gas field has probably been severely damaged 'internally'. A tremor had jolted Tengratila area at 5:00am on •Saturday two hours before the fire broke out, they pointed out.
"The tremor indicates that faulty drilling by Niko Resourceshas done alot of damage inside the 800-mctre gas-well,” an expert said. "It is likely that the uncontrollable pressure of gas in the well has forced a soil layer to fall. This did riot happen even in theMagurchharablow-out."
"This means a bigger gas reserve has been damaged in the internal landslide,"he added
Locals said the area was jolted several times yesterday but not as severely as on Saturday.
Eyewitnesses said the roaring flames at the gas field shot up to more than 1,000 feet yesterday morning. However, the flames came down to about 80 to 90 feet by noon andfurtherdownbytheevening.
The base of the fire however has widened. Fresh gas leakages were noticed at a number of points
around the main well area.
The district authorities have asked over microphone all residents within a three square-kilometre area around Tengratila to move to safer
places.
Niko started drilling in this abandoned gas field in December 2003 with a 1,700-metre target But, it is alleged, the Canadian company did
not take proper safety measures and went on drilling up to 800 metres through the well that had only 300 metres of concrete casing. FROM PAGE 1
On Friday night. Niko's drillingoperators felt a sudden kick of gas that they tried to control by burning the gas coming out with a tremendous force On Saturday morning, there was a big bang at 5:00am which was heard eight kms away. Uro hours later, the fire broke out prompting about 10,000 locals to flee their homes in panic
It Is not known why the fire has come down so much more quickly than the 30 to 45 days that experts and the state minister for energy on Saturday had estimated. "It may have been a small pocket of gas in the upper layer of the well that started the fire," the Petrobangla chairman said, "Another possibility is that an internal landslide has suppressed the gas pressure fromamuchlowerlevel”
"We have to remain cautious regardless of whether the flames have come down or not. The damaged well should be sealed off by drilling a remedial well, "he added.
Yesterday, two Canadian drilling experts along with a Niko official arrived at the spot. The Niko official said the situation has improved much and "the fire will go out soon" while the experts said they would not make any comments then.
The Niko team returned to Dhaka in the evening and is expected to submit a report to the government suggesting the next course of action, the Niko official added.
The government has formed a six-member committee headed by Additional Secretary at the energy ministry Ehsan ul Fattah to investigate the blow-out. It will submit its report by January 20.
The committee members are Petrobangla Chairman SR Osmani, Strategic Policy Expert of Hydrocarbon Unit Moinul Huq, Managing Directorof Syihet Gas Field Rahman Morshed and representatives of the environment ministry and
Sunamganj district administration.
State Minister for Energy AKM Mosharraf Hossain told the UNB yesterday. "The issue of compensation will be decided o n the basis o f the outcome of the inquiry."
The fire originated from one of the many gas pockets in Tengratila gits field and the maximum loss of gas will be around 40 million cubic feet a day worthTk401akh.
Petrobangla sources said, although Niko has lost its drilling rig worth Tk 70-80 crore, it will not bear the loss as the rig is insured. But the country will incur a huge loss of natural resource.
"If a gas structure is internally damaged, it will not be visible from outside," said an expert “In the past. Occidental left Bangladesh without compensating for the loss in Magurchharahlow-out."
"Occidental however was held accountable to the government under a production sharing contract (PSC) and had to give us indirect compensation by increasing Petrobangli's gas share by five percent for the Moulavibazar gas field that will come into operation in March," he pointed out "This is not the case with Nika Niko is virtually unaccountable to the government, and it has been possible because of political pressure beliind the Niko deal."
Tengratila gas Geld was originally known as Chhatak gas Gelddeveloped in the late fifties. The field had produced gas till 1989 and then was sealed off. as the reserve was not considered to be commercially viable for extraction with the technology available at that time
Disqualified for gas exploration in Petrobangla's evaluation in 1997, Niko is the only foreign oil company to operate in Bangladesh without a PSC and through a unique joint venture with Bapex.