Unocal finds Bangladesh gas

Unocal finds Bangladesh gas

DHAKA (AFP): The American oil and gas giant Unocal Corp. has discovered Bangladesh's largest single site of natural gas, holding up to six thousand billion cubic feet, officials said here Thursday.

The site is in Bibiyana in northeastern Sylhet district and will raise the country's proven recoverable gas reserves by almost 50 percent to 19 thousand billion cubic feet.

"The Unocal has submitted a technical report to the government confirming the gas reserve. A presentation on the report will be held in the first week of next month," a spokesman for the state- run Petrobangla told AFP.

Unocal said in the report the company would not start developing the gas field for production unless it had an assured market.

Unocal reported to Petrobangla that it would be possible to produce seven million cubic feet of gas daily for 15 years from Bibiyana, where main drilling started in 1998.