The blaze, which erupted on 7 January, has led to the evacuation of around 10,000 villagers living near by but, so far, no loss of life has been reported.
The field, about 175km northeast of Dhaka, had been closed for almost 20 years after it was thought to have run dry. Niko and Bangladesh Petroleum began E&P in December last year.
Officials from the Bangladeshi energy ministry, speaking to the media, indicated some 30 engineers and other workers at the field managed to escape the fire but an “expensive drilling rig and a large amount of gas was burned out”. Also caught in the flames were a site guest house and several shops at a nearby market.
Local administrator Zafar Siddique said the flames and smokes reached a height of 60 metres at one point but by 9 January they dropped to a height of about one metre. He said the drop in ferocity was due to loss of gas pressure and an increased flow of underground water.
Bangladesh’s official news agency BSS, citing anonymous government officials, the fire was estimated to have destroyed gas worth US$160,000 every five minutes. It is understood three Niko experts have gone to the site to help seal the leakage and extinguish the fire.
Speaking to BSS, state minister energy and mineral resources A.K.M. Mosharraf Hossain said “Directional drilling will be needed and it may take more than a month to put out the blaze.”
Hossain said the damage is to be borne by Niko.
Bangladesh’s Daily Star newspaper blamed Niko and the Bangladeshi government.
The newspaper said an unidentified geological expert believed the Tengratila field had probably been “severely damaged internally” by a tremor two hours before the fire broke out.
“The tremor indicates that faulty drilling by Niko Resources has done a lot of damage inside the 800-metre gas-well," the specialist said.
"It is likely that the uncontrollable pressure of gas in the well has forced a soil layer to fall. This means a bigger gas reserve has been damaged in the internal landslide.”
The report went on to state allegations Niko did not take proper safety measures when it began its drilling operations at the field to reach its TD of 1,700 metres. Although the Daily Star report did not make clear who made the allegations, the assertion is Niko was drilling up to 800 metres with only 300 metres of concrete casing.
The Daily Star said the fire was caused by Niko’s attempts to control a sudden kick of gas by burning the gas which was gushing out of the well. At around 5am on 8 January the fire broke out.
Meanwhile, another report in the Daily Star indicated Niko Resources is not accountable to Bangladesh’s oil and gas regulatory body Petrobangla because Niko does not have a PSC with the watchdog. The newspaper cited anonymous industry sources from within Petrobangla.
According to the insiders, unidentified senior government officials “violated all rules and regulations” when it awarded the Tengratila field to Niko and Bangladesh Petroleum.
“Who was there to cross-check what kind of drilling design was being followed here? Petrobangla? No. The ministry? No. Niko is virtually free to do anything because there is no contract between Petrobangla and Niko,” said the informant, who indicated the lack of PSC may mean the government might encounter difficulties in getting any compensation from Niko.
