Petrobangla has formed a high-powered committee to pinpoint the actual reasons behind the international oil companies (IOCs) snubbing the much-anticipated offshore bidding round for which it floated a tender last March, initially with a 6-month deadline, that eventually got extended to 9 months, before expiring yesterday (Monday).   for hydrocarbon exploration in the country’s maritime territory in the Bay of Bengal. Engr. Md. Rafiqul Islam, Director with responsibility for the Production Sharing Contract (PSC) - that was modified specifically to make it more attractive to IOCs before the tender - has been made the head of the committee, according to Petrobangla Chairman Zanedra Nath Sarker. He said the committee will sit with the IOCs and try to learn the reasons as to why they have not submitted their bids in the bidding round that ended on Monday despite the fact that there were many expectations from the government about their participation. Bangladesh reduces blocked airline funds to $196: IATA After receiving the committee’s report, Petrobangla will forward all findings to the Energy and Mineral Resources Division for next steps, he added.    Meanwhile, Wood Mackenzie, the UK-based international firm, will now provide consultancy services to the Bangladesh Oil Gas and Minerals Corporation –Petrobangla to prepare necessary documents for onshore international gas block bidding. According to official sources, the board of directors of the Petrobangla in a meeting on Monday approved Wood Mackenzie’s offer in this regard. “Among the aspirant bidders for the job, the UK firm’s offer came out to the lowest one and was accepted by the board,” outgoing Petrobangla chairman Zanedra Nath Sarker told UNB. Sources within the PMO said Petrobangla will have to pay about $160,000 to Wood Mackenzie and the consultant will prepare the document within two months. Previously, the UK firm was engaged in preparing the offshore bidding documents as well, said the Petrobangla officials. Strong laws, robust taxation 'musts' for success in anti-tobacco campaign Wood Mackenzie Limited, also known as WoodMac, is a globally renowned consultancy for providing data and analysis in the energy sector. Its services include data, analytics, insight, events and consultancy across the renewables, energy and natural resources sectors. The Petrobangla chairman said the organisation has a plan to complete the preparation of the necessary documents and float international tender in the first quarter of the next year.   

As many as eight foreign consulting firms with experience of having worked and brokered deals in the oil and gas industry, are interested to bag a role advising Petrobangla and its need to amend its Model Production Sharing Contract (PSC) if it really wants to attract the international oil companies to the country’s offshore gas blocks.  According to official sources, five of the eight firms which submitted their respective Expressions of Interest (EOI) to Petrobangla are from the United Kingdom while one each from India, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). They said Petrobangla received their proposals on November 21, the deadline of submission of the EOI.  Read  Bangladesh braces for gas crisis for technical problem “Now we will scrutinise their proposals to pick one of them to do the job,” said Shahnewaz Parvez, General Manager (Contract) of Petrobangla.  He said the consultant will mainly help the state-owned hydrocarbon corporation further amend the Model PSC 2019, in order to attract international oil companies (IOCs) amid the volatile international fuel market.  He noted that the principal upstream energy body will appoint an experienced foreign consultant to draw up the amendments that would convince the IOCs to invest in Bangladesh’s offshore gas fields.  Read: Petrobangla to amend Model PSC further to attract IOCs in offshore gas exploration Official sources said the recent excessive hike in petroleum fuel, especially that of the liquefied natural gas (LNG) has prompted the government to go for further amending the existing PSC, to attract the IOCs to invest in Bangladesh’s offshore gas blocks.  The country has a total of 48 blocks of which 26 are located in offshore areas and 22 onshore. Of the 26 offshore blocks, 11 are located in shallow sea (SS) water while 15 are located in deep sea (DS) water areas.  Of these, 24 offshore gas blocks remain open for IOCs while two blocks —SS-04 and SS-09—are under contract with a joint venture of ONGC Videsh Ltd and Oil India Ltd where drilling works have recently started.  Read Soaring gas prices: Demand and supply management ‘getting tough’ The government had last amended the Model PSC in mid-2019, whereby the price of gas for any participating IOC, that is, the price at which they would sell the gas to the government, was raised to $5.5 per thousand cubic feet (MCF) for shallow water blocks, and $7.25 per MCF for gas extracted from its deep sea blocks.