Published :
Updated :
For all latest news, follow The Financial Express Google News channel.
State-run Petrobangla has planned to host a roadshow to keep international oil companies posted on the freshly minted production sharing contracts before the launch of the next bidding round.
Interested IOCs will be able to have information about the hydrocarbon pricing, contract terms, updates over seismic survey during the event to be held at the Petrocentre in Dhaka, a senior Petrobangla official told the FE on Sunday.
The sharing of model PSC terms with the IOCs will encourage them to take part in the upcoming bidding round, he said.
"We have started writing to the IOCs to take part in the road-show," the official added.
This time the IOCs will not be required to carry out the 2D seismic survey during the next bidding round.
A Norwegian-US joint venture TGS-Schlumberger will carry out the survey.
On completion of the survey, the IOCs will be able to purchase the 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 costs.
The TGS-Schlumberger would get two years to complete the survey and over the next eight years they would be free to trade the data.
Officials said Bangladesh never carried out multi-client seismic surveys in offshore areas.
The country had earlier floated international tenders several times to carry out oil and gas exploration both in onshore and offshore areas by the IOCs.
The bid winning IOCs would carry out seismic surveys on their own in their respective blocks before the firms initiate oil and gas exploration.
The country's offshore areas are now well-demarcated following the verdicts from international courts.
Bangladesh has territorial rights of up to 200 nautical miles from shore as exclusive economic zone in the Bay of Bengal.
Besides, the country has free access to around 387 nautical miles into deep sea following the demarcation of maritime boundary by the international court of arbitration.
Petrobangla had launched the offshore bidding rounds in 2008 and 2012. It, however, had not offered any onshore oil and gas block since 1997.
Bangladesh currently has a total of 31 open blocks to offer in the next bidding round, of which nine are located in onshore areas, 14 located in deep sea, and eight in the shallow sea.
Currently only four onshore gas-fields are in production under the operations by two IOCs--the US-based Chevron and Singapore's Kris Energy.
Five IOCs, however, have active PSCs, either individually or under joint venture, to explore three shallow water blocks and one deep water block.
ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL) and Oil India Ltd (OIL) are jointly exploring shallow water blocks, SS-04 and SS-09.
The joint venture of Australian Santos and Kris Energy is exploring shallow water block SS-11.
POSCO Daewoo Corporation has exploration contract to discover hydrocarbon in deep water block DS-12.
The country's overall natural gas production from local fields of around 2,700 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) comes only from onshore fields.
The overall natural gas output is around 3,200 mmcfd, including supplies of re-gasified LNG (liquefied natural gas).