No international oil firm (IOC) submitted bids for oil and fuel exploration within the nation’s offshore blocks, after the minimize-off date for bidding expired on Monday.
“We had been in actuality worried by the non-submission of bids from the bidders,” a senior official of the Bangladesh Oil, Gasoline and Mineral Corporation (Petrobangla) acknowledged this day.
Outgoing Petrobangla Chairman Zanendra Nath Sarker speculated that the declining vogue of oil prices within the international market would possibly perchance seemingly discover contributed to the shortcoming of response.
Nonetheless, some Petrobangla officials relate that the prevailing uncertainty surrounding the period in-between executive and the political local climate within the nation would even discover performed a significant role within the failure to generate even a single impart.
The Petrobangla chairman talked about that a full of seven IOCs had bought impart documents and 9 IOCs had bought offshore recordsdata packs in preparation for submitting bids within the spherical titled “Oil and Pure Gasoline Exploration Below Bangladesh Offshore Bidding Spherical 2024”.
These companies encompass ExxonMobil and Chevron (USA), Petronas (Malaysia), the joint carrying out TGS and Schlumberger (Norway and France), Inpex Corporation and Jogmac (Japan), China Nationwide Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC), Eni SPA (Italy), Chris Energy (Singapore), and ONGC (India).
Petrobangla had floated the international open serene on March 10 this 365 days, allowing six months for impart submission for the exploration of oil and fuel in the course of the nation’s maritime boundary within the Bay of Bengal.
After two pre-impart conferences, the submission minimize-off date modified into prolonged by three months, on the request of the IOCs, to 1pm on 9 December.
As per the serene, the impart documents had been to be opened as we snort after the submission minimize-off date.
Nonetheless, when UNB visited Petrobangla around 1pm on Monday, none of the IOCs had arrived to submit their bids. Easiest one Petrobangla official modified into impart to receive them.
The serene outlined 24 offshore blocks accessible for bidding—9 shallow sea blocks and 15 deep-sea blocks. The shallow sea blocks encompass SS-01, 02, 03, 05, 06, 07, 08, 10, and 11, whereas the deep-sea blocks encompass DS-08, 09, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, and 22. Bidders, both for my fragment or in affiliation with diversified companies, would possibly perchance seemingly maybe impart for one or extra blocks.
In accordance with the terms of the bids, contracts with successful bidders can be signed below the Bangladesh Offshore Mannequin Production Sharing Contract 2023, as specified within the serene.
Qualification criteria for bidders incorporated offshore everyday manufacturing of now not less than 15,000 barrels of oil or 150 million current cubic toes (mmsc) of fuel, and now not less than one occasion of international abilities in oil and fuel exploration and manufacturing outdoors their dwelling nation.
Seriously, US giants ExxonMobil had displayed a solid hobby in Bangladesh’s offshore blocks, with a delegation led by its Quite loads of Supervisor Jonathan Wilson visiting the nation last February and sitting in talks with Petrobangla, rather than the then-converse minister for Energy and Energy Nasrul Hamid.
That adopted a proposal in 2023, incorporated in a letter from Wilson to Hamid, “to explore the nation’s untapped deepwater hydrocarbon blocks below a brand new manufacturing-sharing contract model, as successfully as attain oil and fuel exploration in some onshore blocks.”
The Awami League executive that Hamid modified into part of, modified into spectacularly deposed by a student-led mass movement in August, adopted by a prolonged interval all over which uncertainty persevered over the regulations and reveal inform.
Nearly the whole lot to originate with the ragged regime modified into overturned, seemingly cooling hobby on the part of ExxonMobil and diversified IOCs, with uncertainty yet to certain over the funding local climate.
Exploration in Bangladesh’s offshore blocks, namely the deep sea ones, goes to be a high-risk, capital intensive carrying out that requires one in every of the huge IOCs to steal an hobby, in step with experts.
The outdated executive modified into also searching at for Chevron, which already operates within the nation, to submit a impart as successfully, after convincing the firm now to now not wrap up their operations right here.
The Petrobangla chairman stated that they’ll now are attempting to satisfy with the IOCs to private why they didn’t submit their bids despite exhibiting solid hobby.
This recordsdata will then be conveyed to the executive’s policymakers, who will steal extra steps essentially essentially based totally on the directives of the Ministry of Energy and Energy.
