DHAKA, July 13: Petrobangla's exploration wing BAPEX, Bangladesh has found new gas reserves in an experimental well in Muradnagar's Shrikail in Comilla.

The state-run Bangladesh Oil, Gas and Mineral Corporation (Petrobangla) Chairman Hossain Mansur told bdnews24.com that a drilling stem test (DST) to find out how much recoverable gas the reserve has and how much it will produce every day began at 9am Friday.

He said the authorities were yet to confirm whether and how much gas there was in the reserve. The DST was said to continue for two more days before any conclusive results were on hand, said the Petrobangla chief.

"If the reserve is proven to be commercially viable, we will be able to add 16-17 million cubic feet (CFT) gas from this well to the national grid every day."

Mansur said once commercial drilling from the well will take the number of running gas wells to 82. "The gas from this reserve will be supplied to the industries, fertiliser and power sectors."

"There is gas in two zones (D Lower and D Upper) of the well area. Currently, we are exploring gas in the D Lower Zone. Exploration in D Upper Zone will begin within days.

"We are now able to explore 15 million cubic-feet gas in 1,7000 PSIG (Pressure per square inch gas)."

BAPEX (Bangladesh Petroleum Exploration and Production Company) had started exploratory drilling at Shrikail in the first week of May to confirm availability of viable gas reserve there.

The well's drilling ended on Jun 29 after some 3,214 metres. The 'login' (method to determine gas reserve) process was completed two days later. Then Bapex said the possibility of a gas reserve had surfaced during the login process.