Bangladesh’s offshore oil, gas exploration tender draws interest from seven global firms

Bangladesh has called international tender for exploration of oil and gas at 24 blocks in the Bay of Bengal

Seven global companies have shown interest in Bangladesh’s tender inviting bids to explore oil and gas in the sea.

The government is trying to hand the blocks by next year over to the winner of the bidding, State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources said at a seminar on Wednesday.

Onshore exploration bidding will also be held, he said.

It may take six to seven more years to collect gas after completing the entire process, according to him.

National oil-gas exploration firm Petrobangla organised the seminar to mark the Offshore Bidding Round 2024 at a Dhaka hotel.

Petrobangla floated an international tender for offshore oil and gas exploration after the approval of the new model public sharing contract on Mar 10.

Nine of the blocks mentioned in the tender are in the shallow sea and 15 in the deep sea. The submission deadline for bidding documents is Sept 9. The documents will be opened in front of selected representatives the same day.

More than 40 representatives of 15 contractor firms attended the seminar.

They included National Petroleum Limited or Petronas, ExxonMobil, Chevron Corp, INPEX Corporation, Japan Organization for Metals and Energy Security or JOGMEC, Chris Energy, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, China National Offshore Oil Corporation and Italian company Eni.

International oil and gas company TGS-Schlumberger presented various data from their multi-client survey at the event.

Chevron, a major company engaged in oil and gas extraction and exploration in mainland Bangladesh, also shared its experience in drilling wells and conducting business in the region.

Highlighting the number of people at the seminar, Nasrul said: “Today’s programme proves people’s interest in Bangladesh’s offshore oil-gas exploration. Seven companies have bought our bidding documents and multi-client survey results.”

He described the process as groundbreaking. “We have a large market of fuel here and big global firms are showing interest.”

The state minister also claimed the PSC made by the government is one of the latest in the world. “The interest of the country and the people was kept in mind during the preparation of the PSC,” he said.

Tawfiq-E-Elahi Chowdhury, the prime minister's power and energy advisor, said Bangladesh’s offshore oil and gas exploration will be a better investment opportunity for the companies, considering desired profit, security, stability and market demand.

“The natural resources of Bay of Bengal are yet to be extracted. There is a large market for fossil fuels in the region that includes Bangladesh and India. Bangladesh alone needs a lot of oil and gas. It is also a relatively tranquil place compared to other war-torn regions of the world,”  

He also hailed the PSC, in which the pricing formula has been linked to Brent oil instead of sulphur.

“Facilities have been extended. We have added a new R factor. This means, the higher the profit, the more the two parties will get a proportional share. Many more opportunities are given along with multi-client surveys with which the firms can understand where the potential lies,” the energy advisor said.

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