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Wildcat Well exploratory well drilled for hydrocarbon (oil and gas) on a geological feature not yet proven to be productive, or in an unproven territory, or to a zone that has never produced or is not known to be productive in the general area.
In Bangladesh first onshore wildcat well was drilled
at Sitakunda anticline, Chittagong district in the year 1914. The well
was drilled to a depth of 762 m. The first offshore wildcat well was drilled
in the shelf region of the bay
of bengal in 1974-75. This exploration was undertaken by six
foreign oil companies who engaged themselves in the bay under production
sharing contract with Bangladesh government. So far 53 onshore and 11
offshore wildcat wells have been drilled. These wells are drilled by national
companies including OGDC, Taila Shandani, petrobangla,
BAPEX, etc. Foreign companies including Shell, BODC, Union Oil, Ina Napthalin,
Occidental, Mobil, Cairn Energy, UNOCAL, etc have also drilled wildcat
wells in Bangladesh under production sharing contract. Bangladesh have
got one of the highest success ratios in the world in discovering oil
and gas from wildcat drillings. The success ratio in Bangladesh is 1 in
3.04 compared to the world ratio of 1 in 10.
[Kazi Matin Uddin Ahmed]
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