Economic Reporter :
International oil companies have sought contractual flexibility, including corporate tax benefits and reserve-based pricing in the next round of bidding for hydrocarbon exploration.
But some firms preferred to keep mum during their talks with state-run Petrobangla over the past week.
Petrobangla arranged the discussions with the interested energy firms to get their views on the benefits offered in the freshly-minted production sharing contracts before the next bidding round.
Talks with several IOCs has already completed, while a few more will join this week, said a senior Petrobangla official.
The IOCs that have shown interest include the ExxonMobil of the United States, BP of the United Kingdom, POSCO of South Korea and PTTEP of Thailand, and a new Japanese oil and gas company.
Petrobangla top officials are having one-to-one talks with the IOCs to keep them abreast with the hydrocarbon pricing, contract terms and updates about seismic survey, he said.
During the talks, some IOCs argued that the flexibility in contracts will help secure investments after delineating hydrocarbon prospect.
Others sought enhanced tax benefits and reserve-based fiscal terms and benefits to reap better output.
Unlike previous occasions, Petrobangla expects the terms of model contract to be more attractive.
Petrobangla’s past rounds drew tepid responses from the IOCs. Such pre-bid talks with the IOCs in the past were rare.
About the next round of bidding, officials said the IOCs would not be required to carry out 2D seismic survey this time. TGS-Schlumberger, a Norwegian-US joint venture (JV), will conduct the survey.
On completion of the survey, the IOCs will be able to purchase non-exclusive multi-client seismic data of the offshore blocks from the JV to carry out basin evaluation and prospect generation.
The JV, however, will have to share the seismic data and the profits with Petrobangla at free of cost.
International oil companies have sought contractual flexibility, including corporate tax benefits and reserve-based pricing in the next round of bidding for hydrocarbon exploration.
But some firms preferred to keep mum during their talks with state-run Petrobangla over the past week.
Petrobangla arranged the discussions with the interested energy firms to get their views on the benefits offered in the freshly-minted production sharing contracts before the next bidding round.
Talks with several IOCs has already completed, while a few more will join this week, said a senior Petrobangla official.
The IOCs that have shown interest include the ExxonMobil of the United States, BP of the United Kingdom, POSCO of South Korea and PTTEP of Thailand, and a new Japanese oil and gas company.
Petrobangla top officials are having one-to-one talks with the IOCs to keep them abreast with the hydrocarbon pricing, contract terms and updates about seismic survey, he said.
During the talks, some IOCs argued that the flexibility in contracts will help secure investments after delineating hydrocarbon prospect.
Others sought enhanced tax benefits and reserve-based fiscal terms and benefits to reap better output.
Unlike previous occasions, Petrobangla expects the terms of model contract to be more attractive.
Petrobangla’s past rounds drew tepid responses from the IOCs. Such pre-bid talks with the IOCs in the past were rare.
About the next round of bidding, officials said the IOCs would not be required to carry out 2D seismic survey this time. TGS-Schlumberger, a Norwegian-US joint venture (JV), will conduct the survey.
On completion of the survey, the IOCs will be able to purchase non-exclusive multi-client seismic data of the offshore blocks from the JV to carry out basin evaluation and prospect generation.
The JV, however, will have to share the seismic data and the profits with Petrobangla at free of cost.
