Anisul Islam Noor :
Three international oil companies (IOCs) have finally submitted bids for hydrocarbon exploration in offshore blocks in the Bay of Bengal, Petrobangla sources said.
The IOCs are: Norwegian Statoil, South Korean Daewoo and Singapore’s KrisEnergy.
The bid submission deadline was last Wednesday.
All the three IOCs have shown expression of interests (EOIs) to carry out hydrocarbon exploration in deepwater blocks DS-10 and DS-11 and shallow block SS-10, Istiaque Ahmad, Chairman of Petrobangla told media at his office yesterday.
Request for proposal (RfP) will be sent to the short-listed companies thereafter, for submission of final bids, he said.
The state-run Bangladesh Oil, Gas & Mineral Corporation — Petrobangla — had invited EOIs from the interested IOCs on September 28 to contract out the blocks.
“Petrobangla avoided the usual norms of finalizing a model production-sharing contract before launching this bidding round,” the Petrobangla Chairman said.
Instead, the contract terms will be fixed on the basis of the bids received, following negotiations. “We changed the bid criteria to lure IOCs,” he added.
The size of DS-10 and DS-11 and SS-10 are of 3,381 sq km, 3,693 sq km and 4,696 sq km respectively.
Under the bid terms, contractor will bear all the cost. Recovery of the cost is subject to the discovery of hydrocarbon, Ahmad said.
Earlier, the two deepwater blocks were awarded to US firm ConocoPhillips following 2008 bidding round, which on June 16, 2011 inked production-sharing agreements on both blocks DS-08-10 and DS-08-11.
Later the US firm walked away from both the blocks in December 2014 after investing around $20 million in 2D seismic surveys, saying they were unviable. It had sought an upward revision of the fiscal terms, but the Bangladesh said it was not in a position to make any change.
Shallow-water block SS-10 was offered twice in 2012 and 2013 bidding rounds but it failed to attract a bidder.
Among the IOCs that submitted EOIs, only the Singapore-based firm KrisEnergy is currently involved in oil-and-gas exploration in Bangladesh.
KrisEnergy is the operator for onshore Block 9 of 1,770 sq km in size and located some 100 km off the capital, having the working interests of 30 per cent.
Bangora gas field in Block 9 is currently supplying around 95 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) of natural gas, according to Petrobangla data as on October 18.
The Singapore-based firm has also 45 per cent working interests in a shallow seawater block-SS-11. It has an area of 4,475 sq km. KrisEnergy along with its joint-venture-partner Australian Santos (45 per cent stake) has already completed 2D survey and plans to carry out 3D survey soon.
Bangladesh Petroleum Exploration and Production Company Ltd (Bapex) has 10 per cent carried-interest stake in SS-11.
Bangladesh is trying to promote exploration in the Bay of Bengal to help meet its mounting energy demands. The country is currently dependent on onshore fields for gas output, with production hovering around 2,700 mmcfd against the demand at more than 3,300 mmcfd.
Three international oil companies (IOCs) have finally submitted bids for hydrocarbon exploration in offshore blocks in the Bay of Bengal, Petrobangla sources said.
The IOCs are: Norwegian Statoil, South Korean Daewoo and Singapore’s KrisEnergy.
The bid submission deadline was last Wednesday.
All the three IOCs have shown expression of interests (EOIs) to carry out hydrocarbon exploration in deepwater blocks DS-10 and DS-11 and shallow block SS-10, Istiaque Ahmad, Chairman of Petrobangla told media at his office yesterday.
Request for proposal (RfP) will be sent to the short-listed companies thereafter, for submission of final bids, he said.
The state-run Bangladesh Oil, Gas & Mineral Corporation — Petrobangla — had invited EOIs from the interested IOCs on September 28 to contract out the blocks.
“Petrobangla avoided the usual norms of finalizing a model production-sharing contract before launching this bidding round,” the Petrobangla Chairman said.
Instead, the contract terms will be fixed on the basis of the bids received, following negotiations. “We changed the bid criteria to lure IOCs,” he added.
The size of DS-10 and DS-11 and SS-10 are of 3,381 sq km, 3,693 sq km and 4,696 sq km respectively.
Under the bid terms, contractor will bear all the cost. Recovery of the cost is subject to the discovery of hydrocarbon, Ahmad said.
Earlier, the two deepwater blocks were awarded to US firm ConocoPhillips following 2008 bidding round, which on June 16, 2011 inked production-sharing agreements on both blocks DS-08-10 and DS-08-11.
Later the US firm walked away from both the blocks in December 2014 after investing around $20 million in 2D seismic surveys, saying they were unviable. It had sought an upward revision of the fiscal terms, but the Bangladesh said it was not in a position to make any change.
Shallow-water block SS-10 was offered twice in 2012 and 2013 bidding rounds but it failed to attract a bidder.
Among the IOCs that submitted EOIs, only the Singapore-based firm KrisEnergy is currently involved in oil-and-gas exploration in Bangladesh.
KrisEnergy is the operator for onshore Block 9 of 1,770 sq km in size and located some 100 km off the capital, having the working interests of 30 per cent.
Bangora gas field in Block 9 is currently supplying around 95 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) of natural gas, according to Petrobangla data as on October 18.
The Singapore-based firm has also 45 per cent working interests in a shallow seawater block-SS-11. It has an area of 4,475 sq km. KrisEnergy along with its joint-venture-partner Australian Santos (45 per cent stake) has already completed 2D survey and plans to carry out 3D survey soon.
Bangladesh Petroleum Exploration and Production Company Ltd (Bapex) has 10 per cent carried-interest stake in SS-11.
Bangladesh is trying to promote exploration in the Bay of Bengal to help meet its mounting energy demands. The country is currently dependent on onshore fields for gas output, with production hovering around 2,700 mmcfd against the demand at more than 3,300 mmcfd.
