The team started cleaning natural gas well near Pachali Bhairab in Teku from Sunday. It has cleaned 70 meters of the well so far. But they need to clear another 230 meters to ascertain whether the gas well can be brought to use or not.
The department included Thapa, who is now 66, in the team because of his experience in drilling works.
The methane gas extracted from the well and two other wells in the periphery was collected in a large tank which still lies idle in Teku. The gas was supplied to Shukraraj Tropical & Infectious Disease Hospital and a number of public offices in Tripureshwar including Veterinary Hospital, Ministry of Industry, Department of Cottage and Small Industries and a unit of Nepal Army free of cost.
The effort to restore the gas plant has been made amid severe shortage of fuel for the past four months due to Indian blockade. Ministry of Industry has allocated Rs 600,000 for the purpose.
The team has been asked to find out whether gas supply can resume from the well, according to Sarbajit Prasad Mahato, director general of DoMG.
“We plan to complete the work within a month. We will be able to say whether the well can be brought into operation by then,” said Thapa.
Minister for Industry Som Prasad Pandey said they will be able to supply gas from the plant within six months if the reexamination reports are positive.
“A study conducted by Japan International Corporation Agency 25 years ago had discovered 310 million cubic meters of natural gas in Kathmandu Valley. According to the study, the volume is sufficient to fulfill cooking needs of 20,000 families for 50 years,” said Pandey.
Shiva Prasad Rijal, senior driller of DoMG, said the government back in the late 1980s had studied the feasibility of supplying natural gas to people after India imposed economic embargo on Nepal. “But the successive governments neglected the natural gas well,” Rijal said.
Technicians have also started cleaning another natural gas well at Imadol of Lalitpur. A total of 14 wells were dug in the past. But only three in Teku were used.
As methane gas cannot be stored, it has to be supplied via pipeline from the well itself. Officials say similar gas reserves have been discovered in Dailekh and Mustang districts.
Officials say the Ministry of Industry has plans to explore them in the near future.
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