Chevron resumes survey in Lawachhara Petrobangla found no link between fire and study work
Chevron resumes survey in LawachharaPetrobangla found no link between fire and study work
29 April 2008
published by http://nation.ittefaq.com
American energy group Chevron Corp resumed 3D seismic survey yesterday at Lawachhara forest with the clearance from Petrobangla.
Both Petrobangla and Chevron Corp conducted separate investigations into the forest fire and found no link between its gas exploration activities and recent bushfire.
According to a Chevron press release, investigations have proved that the fire incident on April 26 had no connection with the seismic-related works.
“Chevron is going to resume work on April 29,” said the official statement issued by the US-based oil company.
About the outcomes of the Chevron-sponsored investigation, it said that there were no seismic crew present where the incident took place on April 26, and accordingly, there was no seismic-related work going on in the area at the time.
State-owned Petrobangla also has concluded its investigation led by a General Manager, who visited the area the day after the fire occurred.
Petrobangla official said that their investigation found “no link between the seismic survey and the fire incident.”
“Since the place from where the fire broke out was adjacent to a rail-track, so it is assumed that the fire might have generated from anything that was thrown out from the train,” he said, adding that the actual cause of the fire could not be ascertained in the investigation.
The US Energy Company suspended its survey work on April 26 following a fire incident at the protected national forest.
Chevron began the three-dimensional (3D) seismic survey last month. It is aiming to raise production from the gas field by 50 per cent to 105 million cubic feet per day.
The area is located in block 14 of the Moulavi Bazar gas field in the country’s northeast, which also covers part of a national forest.
Discovered in 1999, the Moulavi Bazar field has an estimated reserve of 400 billion cubic feet of gas.