State-owned Petrobangla has signed a deal with Indian state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) for the hydrocarbon exploration and extraction of oil and gas in shallow-water Blocks 4 and 9 of the Bay of Bengal. ONGC is the first Indian company to get exploration contracts in Bangladesh.
The two agreements were signed between the Bangladesh Government, Petrobangla and ONGC; and Oil India and state-owned Bangladesh Petroleum Exploration and Production Company Ltd (Bapex) at capital Dhaka’s Petrocenter on Monday.Finance Minister AMA Muhith, Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Affairs Advisor to the Prime Minister Taufiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury, State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid Bipu and Indian High Commissioner in Dhaka Pankaj Saran were present at the signing ceremony.
The Petrobangla invited bids last year under the model Production Sharing Contract (PSC) 2012 for hydrocarbon exploration in two shallow water blocks – SS-04 and SS-09 in the Bay of Bengal.
Petrobangla officials said that two more agreements would be signed this month with the US-based oil and gas company ConocoPhillips for the shallow-water Block 7 and Santos-Criss Energy for Block 11.
After formulating the PSC-2012 in September 2012, the state-run energy corporation, Petrobangla, invited an international bidding for 10 to 12 gas-blocks in the shallow and deep-sea areas, except the ones caught up in a dispute with India.
Of the blocks, tenders were invited twice for the shallow-water blocks from SS-02 to SS-04; and from block SS-06 to SS-11. Despite the efforts, only three companies submitted responded.
The Petrobangla suspended its international tender for three deep-sea blocks in February last year, as no international bidder had shown interest. The three deep-sea blocks are DS-12, DS-16 and DS-21, sized between 3,200 and 3,500 sq km, at depths of 200 metres to 2,000 metres.
Later, the PSC was revised to ease some of the conditions in response to demands by contractors.
The government is now evaluating the bids it has got for the three deep-sea gas blocks. ConocoPhillips happens to be the only bidder for all three of them.-bdnews24.com
