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Exploration Cairn tests gas strike off Bangladesh

March 4, 1996

Cairn Discovery [32817 bytes] A discovery by Cairn Energy plc, Edinburgh, in the Bay of Bengal has raised hopes for a new gas play off Bang- ladesh. Exploration in Bangladesh has until recently focused in the northeast onshore region, but Cairn's Sangu-1 wildcat in Block 16 is said to have achieved the highest combined recorded flow rate for the country. Cairn said its Sangu-1 flowed a maximum 50 MMcfd from a main gas bearing zone on test. A later test of a shallower formation boosted the

Cairn Discovery [32817 bytes]

A discovery by Cairn Energy plc, Edinburgh, in the Bay of Bengal has raised hopes for a new gas play off Bang- ladesh.

Exploration in Bangladesh has until recently focused in the northeast onshore region, but Cairn's Sangu-1 wildcat in Block 16 is said to have achieved the highest combined recorded flow rate for the country.

Cairn said its Sangu-1 flowed a maximum 50 MMcfd from a main gas bearing zone on test. A later test of a shallower formation boosted the well's combined flow to 82 MMcfd.

Khandakar Mosharraf Hossain, Bangladesh's minister of energy and mineral resources, said, "The discovery is of major significance to Bangladesh, opening a new hydrocarbon province.

"It extends the hitherto known hydrocarbon area of the country from the eastern part to the south and west, including offshore. This should lead to rapid development of gas based industries and additional power for the country."

Cairn said other gas bearing zones in Sangu-1 were not tested. The well has been completed as a potential producer and the rig moved to drill the Sangu-2 appraisal, 5 km north. Drilling is expected to require 30-40 days.

Malcolm Thoms, Cairn's general manager, commercial, said his company is tentatively assessing development options.

"The most likely development would be pretty straightforward," he said. "Conditions in the area are like the Gulf of Mexico, with water only 20-40 ft deep."

Thoms said Sangu most likely would be developed using a small platform over a template on the site of the discovery well. One or two more wells would be drilled through the template to establish base production.

Sangu gas is 96% methane, with no hydrogen sulfide and little carbon dioxide. There is no potential for liquids recovery, so processing requirements would be simple.

The discovery is 40 km offshore. While an export pipeline to shore is feasible, it "...needs more thought" than development options because of strong currents in the Mouths of the Ganges area between the discovery and the shore.

Cairn holds two exploration licenses, Blocks 15 and 16, off Bangladesh.