Dhaka, Aug 10 (IANS): The Bangladeshi government has announced the discovery of a new gas field in the country's Sylhet region, some 240 km northeast of capital Dhaka.

State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid Monday formally announced Zakiganj in Sylhet as the country's 28th gas field, reports Xinhua news agency.

The gas structure has been discovered by the state-run Bangladesh Petroleum Exploration Company (BAPEX).

Hamid said BAPEX made the discovery in June but refrained from making a formal announcement for a while as it decided to assess first the prospects of recovering gas from the new field.

He said 68 billion cubic feet (bcf) of gas has been found in the country's 28th gas field.

"The new gas field has a possible reserve of 68 bcf of gas worth around 12.76 billion takas ($148 million)," said Hamid.

He said BAPEX will soon conduct a 3D survey to assess further the real position of the fossil fuel in the virgin field from where gas can be extracted up to 13 years at 10 million cubic feet per day.

Bangladesh previously had 27 gas fields, with the latest one in Bheduria of Bhola, in the southern part of the country, discovered in October 2017.

In the past decade, BAPEX discovered over a dozen small- to medium-sized gas fields.

The biggest field so far is in Bhola, an offshore island covering an area of 3,403.48 sq km and about 205 km south of the capital Dhaka, which boasts hundreds of billions of cubic feet reserves.

According to Petrobangla (Bangladesh Oil, Gas & Mineral Corporation)'s official estimates, the previously discovered 27 gas fields have been found with a cumulative original recoverable gas reserve of around 28 trillion cubic feet.