Although the Sylhet-10 well located in Joyintapur in Sylhet district is ready for gas extraction, it is not possible to extract gas from the well due to the lack of a pipeline. However, gas from the Sylhet-10 well may be available by February. It is expected that 20 to 25 million cubic feet of gas can be produced from this well daily.

The work of laying a 6-inch diameter pipeline from the well to Haripur is underway. According to sources from Sylhet Gas Field Company Limited (SGFCL), the pipeline construction work is in its final stages.

Petrobangla Chairman Janendra Nath Sarkar told Barta24.com, we had made efforts to complete the pipeline construction work by December. The work has been delayed due to some complications in the Roads and Highways Department (R&HD). About three kilometers of pipeline are left, we have instructed to complete it within a month. A Petrobangla team will visit Sylhet soon. If necessary, a quick solution will be found by sitting with the R&HD.

The well is coming into production at a time when summer, Ramadan and the irrigation season are coming together. This news is considered a great relief in the face of the gas crisis. The drilling of the well was completed in November 2023, and 3 layers of gas were found in the well along with oil. The layers are located at depths of 2460 to 2475 meters, 2540 to 2576 meters and 3300 meters. The Division of Energy and Mineral Resources expects that the potential reserves of gas could be 43.6 to 106 billion cubic feet.

The drilling of Well No. 10 in Sylhet was done with the Gas Development Fund and Sylhet Gas Fields Limited's own funding. For this, an agreement was signed with Sinopec International Petroleum Service Corporation, China, on September 11, 2022. SGFCL has confirmed the presence of gas as well as oil in the well. Another well (Sylhet-10X) is under drilling next to that well. The drilling of that well will be completed by June 2026. It is expected to produce 45 to 50 million cubic feet of gas per day.

The oil location of the Sylhet-10 well has been identified at a depth of 1,397-1,445 meters. On the first day, 70 barrels of oil were produced in 2 hours. The well has been closed for now. A consultancy firm has been appointed to confirm the storage. That firm has also already submitted a report. The audit of that report is underway, said Petrobangla Chairman Janendra Nath Sarkar.

In response to a question, the Petrobangla Chairman told Barta24.com that the quality of the oil is of superior quality. We sent the oil obtained from Sylhet-10 to BUET and Eastern Refinery, and they reported that it was of excellent quality.

At one time, 2,800 million cubic feet of gas was obtained daily from domestic gas fields. Only 1930 million cubic feet were produced on December 23. The production of domestic gas fields is decreasing every day. Petrobangla estimates that the country's gas demand will exceed 4500 million in the 2026-27 fiscal year. Although some want to say that the actual demand for gas is now over 4500.

According to Petrobangla sources, the average price of gas purchased from the state-owned Sylhet Gas Field Company Limited at a rate of 1 taka, from Bangladesh Gas Field Company at a rate of 1.25 taka, from Bapex at a rate of 4 taka, and from multinational companies Chevron Bangladesh and Tallo stands at 6.07 taka per cubic meter. Gas is available from these domestic sources at a rate of approximately 2000 million cubic feet per day. On the other hand, 900 million gas is being supplied from LNG imports. After one-third of the imports, the average price has increased from 6.06 taka to 24.38 taka (2023-24 fiscal year). The addition of 20 to 25 million cubic meters of gas daily from the most affordable source (1 taka per cubic meter) is certainly good news.

After a month and a half, the country's foreign exchange reserves have again reached 20 billion dollars.

Bangladesh Bank Spokesperson and Executive Director Husne Ara Shikha said this on Monday (December 23).

According to the latest data from the central bank, as of the 22nd of this month, the country's reserves are now 20 billion dollars according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) accounting system BPM-6.

Earlier, the foreign exchange reserves were 20 billion dollars on November 6. However, they gradually started decreasing and fell below 19 billion dollars in the first week of December.

In recent weeks, the price of the dollar started increasing due to the increase in imports. Banks had to spend a maximum of Tk. 127.70 to buy a dollar of remittances. The amount of dollars increased due to the high remittance flow. This helped banks relax restrictions on opening new LCs (letters of credit).

According to the central bank, imports grew by 1 percent from July to October of the current fiscal year, while the growth was negative 10 percent in the last fiscal year. It is worth noting that in the first 21 days of this December, remittances of 200 crore 72 lakh 30 thousand US dollars came into the country. And in the same period last November and October, remittances came in at 157 crore 50 lakh and 157 crore 29 lakh dollars respectively. The remittance flow increased in the first three weeks of December compared to October and November. 

Mohammed Saiful Alam, the founder and chairman of conglomerate S Alam Group has launched legal measures to address what he claims are losses caused by the interim government’s actions in freezing his assets and damaging his investments, reports the British newspaper Financial Times.

According to the report published on Monday (23 December), in a notice of dispute addressed to Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus and several of his close advisers, Mohammad Saiful Alam’s legal representatives warned that unless the dispute is resolved within six months, they will initiate international arbitration.

The legal notice cites a 2004 bilateral investment treaty between Bangladesh and Singapore, where the S Alam family has been based since renouncing their Bangladeshi citizenship in 2020; the family reportedly obtained permanent residency in Singapore in 2011 and citizenship between 2021 and 2023, according to FT.

In a letter dated 18 December, Mohammad Saiful Alam’s legal team, Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, alleged that the family had been stripped of their rights to their companies and subjected to investigations without formal notice.

“The value of the investors’ investments has been destroyed, in whole or in part, through the acts and omissions of Bangladesh, its agencies and instrumentalities,” the letter stated.

Following the fall of Sheikh Hasina’s government, multiple allegations of financial malfeasance surfaced, including claims that Saiful Alam secured thousands of crores in bank loans through fraudulent entities tied to banks under his control.

The interim government has responded by launching investigations into these allegations, freezing the bank accounts of Saiful Alam and his family, imposing travel bans, and initiating legal actions.

It has also restricted the lending capabilities of S Alam-owned banks, replaced their management, and annulled several business deals, which, according to S Alam Group’s lawyers, was done “arbitrarily and without due process", added the FT.

In November, Mohammad Saiful Alam asserted that his and his family's Singaporean citizenship and an international investment agreement offer their enterprise protection against what he deemed as intimidation and undue pressure from the Bangladesh Bank.

This claim was highlighted in a formal letter sent by their legal representatives to the Bangladesh Bank Governor Dr Ahsan H Mansur, warning of legal recourse through an international arbitration court should their business interests suffer unjust harm.

In an interview with Financial Times in October, Dr Ahsan H Mansur accused Mohammad Saiful Alam and his associates of siphoning at least Tk1.2 trillion —equivalent to $10 billion from the Bangladesh Bank during the tenure of ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina.

S Alam Group is on the brink of shutting down its factories due to its inability to import raw materials following the freezing of its bank accounts.

This group, painstakingly built over four decades by the collective efforts of entrepreneurs, workers, and officials, now faces a crisis threatening the jobs of over one lakh employees.

Economists and affected workers assert that keeping these factories operational could shield a large number of labourers from joblessness.

Finance Adviser Dr. Salehuddin Ahmed said that despite the International Monetary Fund (IMF) making various alarming statements, the country’s economic situation is not that bad, but there are challenges.

He said this while talking to reporters at the Secretariat on Thursday (December 19).

The adviser told reporters that despite your IMF delegation making various alarming statements, the country’s economic situation is not that bad, but there are challenges.

Earlier, at a press conference, IMF delegation chief Chris Papageorgiou, who is visiting Bangladesh, said that the economic picture of Bangladesh is not very promising. Inflation has not been under control for a long time, which is much higher than the IMF’s assumption.

He expressed concern over the continuous increase in food prices in the Bangladesh market. For this, the organization has advised the interim government to take effective initiatives to reduce commodity prices.

At the same time, Economic Adviser Dr. Salehuddin Ahmed said that no money will be allocated to pay wages to Beximco Group workers.

He said, it has already been decided that no money will be given to pay the wages of the group's workers. He further said, earlier, money was given to the wages of the Beximco Group workers. That money has also been transferred to the workers' bank accounts. If it was not given, they would have blocked the roads.

Earlier, the companies in the Beximco Industrial Park were laid off due to lack of orders and sufficient loan defaults in the name of the company in the bank.

Meanwhile, Energy and Power Adviser Fawzul Kabir Khan said that the government will approve new gas connections for industrial plants if they agree to pay a bill equal to the cost of LNG import.