Petrobangla is going to extend the submission date of the international offshore block bidding round by three months to get a better response.
"We have moved to extend the bid submission time by 3 more months", Petrobangla Chairman Zanendra Nath Sarker said last week.
He also informed reporters that so far, 7 international companies purchased the bid documents showing keen interest to invest in oil and gas exploration in the country's maritime area in the Bay of Bengal.
Sources said the multinational oil and gas companies, which purchased the bids, include US companies ExxonMobil and Chevron, Malaysia's Petronas, Norway and France's joint venture TGS and Schlumberger, Japan's Inpex Corporation and Jogmac, China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC), Italy's Eni SPA, Singapore's Chris Energy and India's ONGC.
Petrobangla, the oil, gas and mineral corporation, floated the offshore bidding on March 10 this year and set a September 9 deadline for submission of bids by the interested companies.
Officials said now the bid submission date will be set anytime in December.
The tender, named “Oil and Natural Gas Exploration Under Bangladesh Offshore Bidding Round 2024”, was published in local newspapers and websites of concerned government entities including Bangladeshi missions abroad.
As per the floated tender, a total of 24 offshore blocks—of which nine are shallow blocks and 15 deep sea blocks—are available for the bidding round.
The nine shallow sea blocks are SS-01, 02, 03, 05, 06, 07, 08, 10 and 11, and 15 deep sea blocks are DS-08, 09, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21 and 22.
The bidder, singly or in association with other companies, can bid for one or more blocks.
Contracts will be signed with the successful bidders in line with the Bangladesh Offshore Model Production Sharing Contract 2023, said the tender.
The features of the proposed contract include full repatriation of profit, no signature bonus or royalty, uncapped attractive gas price linked with international marker, oil price to be determined on the basis of the fair market value prevailing in South and Southeast Asia.
It entails no duty for equipment and machinery imported for petroleum operations while contractor's corporate income tax liability will be borne by Petrobangla, and bank guarantee for performance of the minimum exploration program.
There will be provision for assignment of interest and share-transfer and 100 percent cost recovery with a yearly cap of 75 percent.
The contractor must have a mandatory work program consisting of 2D seismic survey and mandatory purchase of available 2D multi-client seismic data against bidded blocks to get relief from mandatory work obligations proportionately.
They will have minimum work obligation in each of the exploration periods while biddable work program commitment over and above the mandatory program.
There will be petroleum profit sharing on the basis of R-factor with biddable upper and lower limits and option to sell contractor's share of natural gas in the domestic market to a third party, at a negotiated price, subject to Petrobangla's right of first refusal.
The bidder must ensure a carried stake of 10 percent for state-owned Bangladesh Petroleum Exploration and Production Company Limited (BAPEX) for both shallow and deep sea blocks.
The bidders’ qualification criteria include — individual or in case of joint venture at least one member — offshore daily production of at least 15,000 barrels of oil or 150 mmsc of gas. Bidders must have at least one global experience (other than home country) in the oil and gas exploration and production.
The Information Package will be available at a cost of US$ 300 or equivalent Bangladeshi taka to the interested bidders/companies.
To enable companies to assess the geological prospects of the blocks on offer, promotional and data Packages are available on payment basis. Promotional packages contain bidding document, sample seismic sections, gravity, magnetic, geological maps. Companies are required to purchase the promotional package in order to qualify for bidding, said the tender.