SYLHET, Jan 19: The Magurchhara gas field has been officially declared abandoned.

Deputy Commissioner of Moulvibazar G K M Nurul Amin, when contacted tonight, told The Daily Star that the General Manager and President of the Occidental, Bangladesh Nigel Hopkins in a letter to him yesterday informed that the US company had abandoned the Magurchhara gas field for at least six months.

The letter also stated that the situation at Magurchhara was not at all risky, though there was leakage of gas through some points, the DC said adding that the company had transported most of its machineries and equipment from Magurchhara to Sylhet.

An official source, on condition of anonymity, informed today that the US company after abandoning the Magurchhara gas field, is now contemplating to drill a new exploration well at a new location about five to six kilometres off the Magurchhara.

The company has preliminarily selected the spot which is situated at Kalapur in the Majdihee Tea Estate area, about four kilometres off from the Moulvibazar-Srimangal Road. Occidental has also completed the design of the proposed new well, the source said, adding that a private construction firm will be instructed to begin the preparatory work for construction of the drilling pad on the new location within a week.

Meanwhile, hundreds of local people were found engaged in collecting scraps from around the burnt-out well and its surrounding areas for the fifth day today. They are working hard to collect the metal scraps, even those that had gone under soil following the huge explosion that occurred in the early hours of June 15 last year.

Officials of Occidental on Saturday asked some local people to collect scraps from the eastern side of the burnt-out well. Later, the company men took some video shots of the situation.

During a visit to the Magurchhara gas field site yesterday, hundreds of people from the nearby areas with crowbar, spades and hammers were seen working hard to collect scrap items even from under the soil. None of the officials of Occidental, except only a few private securitymen hired by the company, were found in the area.

Occidental officials were resisted several times by hundreds of local people when they tried to transport some of its equipment like, pump sets, generator, caravan etc from Magurchhara area during the last three days. The local people created barricade by putting logs on the road and asked the Occidental officials for immediate repair of the Bhanugachh-Srimangal Road which was badly damaged after the June 15 explosion and has been lying unusuable for the last seven months. The agitating people even put barricade on the way of a bulldozer Sunday.

Meanwhile, gas leakage through many points near the burnt-out well continued yesterday. Bubbling of gas on the pond-like spot at the eastern side of the well and that on the northern side of the nearby rail track was clearly visible yesterday afternoon.

Occidental began drilling of the relief well on its third location at Magurchhara with a view to sealing the burnt-out well from October 6 last year. The company completed the task by capping the mouth of the damaged well through diagonal drilling and immediately after this the company started transportation of the huge machineries and equipment from the location, abandoning the gas field area without informing any of the authorities like district administration, Railway or Petrobangla, sources alleged.

It caused strong resentment among the people of the nearby areas who suffered due to the explosion. Occidental did not even repair the Bhanugachh-Srimangal Road, pay compensation money to the Khasias or the tea gardens.

Plan to drill well 'without clearance'
Star Report

US company Occidental is planning to begin drilling an exploratory well in Jalalabad under blocks 13 and 14 on Friday next without any clearance from the Directorate of Environment or under any valid contract, official sources said.

The production sharing contract (PSC) with Occidental for blocks 13 and 14 was supposed to be terminated naturally on January 11 as per contractual terms for its failure to fulfil the work commitment during the three-year initial exploration period.

The government has not yet announced the termination of the PSC but it is now seeking legal advice from two lawyers regarding the fate of the PSC.

The company has notified the government about its plan to go ahead with the drilling work in Jalalabad although the PSC is yet to be extended.

As per the terms of the PSC, Occidental sought clearance from the Directorate of Environment (DOE). But the DOE did not clear the US company's plan since its contract in these blocks have not been extended.

Quoting Section 4, paragraph 2 of the Petroleum Act, 1974, a source said no one can conduct any such exploratory activity in Bangladesh without prior consent from the government. "Therefore, what Occidental is planning to do is totally illegal," he added.