Back in May, the oil companies struck gas in the same geological layer in Lalmai, some 40 km south of Bangora.

Tullow chief Aiden Heavey regards the expansion of gas from Lalmai to Bangora as having considerable upside potential, although Petrobangla officials say both the gas fields are "moderately good" in size.

But Petrobangla is upbeat about both the discoveries, saying these fields, if found commercially viable, can start pumping gas in to the national gas grid in less than two years.

The newly discovered field is located close to existing pipelines, and there is a ready market for new sources of gas in Bangladesh.

Tullow's official announcement says, the Bangora-1 well was drilled to a depth of 3,636m and encountered a number of gas bearing reservoirs between 2,580m and 3,285m. Having completed the well, the three lowermost zones were production tested, recording an aggregate flow rate in excess of 120 million square cubic feet per day (mmcfd).

Tullow plans to carry out a comprehensive appraisal programme over Bangora and the earlier Lalmai discovery, including further seismic, drilling and extended well testing.

Aidan Heavey, chief executive of Tullow, comments, "Following on from the earlier discovery at Lalmai, we have now had gas discoveries at each end of a 40 km long anticlinal structure. We intend to carry out an accelerated appraisal programme and deliver gas to the market at an early date."

A senior Petrobangla official said that presently the gas production capacity is 1365 mmcfd against a maximum demand of 1350 mmcfd. Gas demand is rising sharply by more than 10 percent annually. "Therefore any new discovery has immediate use for us," the official noted.

Tullow is leading the block 9 exploration under a production sharing contract (PSC) signed in April 2001 with Petrobangla. Tullow and its partners had earlier failed to fulfil the minimum work commitments in three years time, as stipulated by the April contract. Their first venture in Kashimpur ended earlier this year amid a frustrating failure and they were given a 120-day contractual extension.

Their success has earned them an additional four-year contract extension, during which they will have to drill 10 more wells. During this period Niko will become the operator instead of Tullow.