Petrobangla, the state-owned oil company of Bangladesh, has called for an international tender for oil and gas exploration in the Bay of Bengal, Report informs via Dhaka Tribune.
They have invited 55 international companies to explore oil and gas in 24 blocks in the Bay of Bengal. The bidders will have six months to submit their tenders. On the same day, letters were sent to the embassies to inform them about the tender.
The tender was announced through advertisements in several national newspapers on Sunday.
The last tender for offshore oil and gas exploration was called in 2016. Although a new Production Sharing Contract (PSC) was signed in 2019, no tender was called. Nearly four years later, the cabinet approved a new PSC in July last year.
Bangladesh resolved maritime disputes with India in 2012 and with Myanmar in 2014. Now there are 15 blocks in the deep sea and 11 blocks in shallow sea. In 2010, ConocoPhillips showed interest in working in the DS-10 and DS-11 blocks in deep sea. After completing a 2D survey, they demanded an increase in the price of gas. As their demand was not met, they left the project.
Moreover, after signing the contract, Australian company Santos and South Korean company Posco Daewoo left their projects. Currently, only the Indian company ONGC is conducting exploration in two shallow sea blocks. Excluding these two, tenders are being called for the remaining 24 blocks.
American companies ExxonMobil and Chevron have also shown interest in this matter.
Some changes have been made in the policies to attract foreign companies in this year's PSC. While the price of gas was fixed earlier, it will now be set in accordance with the international market. According to PSC-2019, Bangladesh's share will increase with the increase in gas production, while the share of multinational companies will decrease. In deep sea, Bangladesh's share will vary between 35% to 60%, and in shallow sea, it will range from 40% to 65%. However, if a company wants to sell gas, it must first offer it to Petrobangla. If Petrobangla does not want to buy, the foreign company can sell the gas to a third party.
Petrobangla's Chairman, Zanendra Nath Sarker, said that eight separate packages have been prepared for the data, which interested companies can purchase to learn about our blocks.
Last year, without a tender, ExxonMobil from the US sent a letter to Petrobangla for undersea gas exploration. There were several rounds of discussion on this. But the discussions did not progress in light of the upcoming 12th parliamentary election.
After forming the new government, a representative team from ExxonMobil recently came to Dhaka for discussions. This time, instead of rejecting their proposal, they were invited by State Minister for Power, Energy, and Mineral Resources, Nasrul Hamid, to participate in the tender.