Bid submission deadline extended to July 29

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FE Report The government has extended the deadline to July 29 from June 27 for bid submission on hydrocarbon exploration by international oil companies (IOCs) in six shallow-water blocks in the Bay of Bengal, a senior Petrobangla official said. The Energy Division under the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources allowed the state-owned Petrobangla to extend the deadline, Petrobangla Director for Production Sharing Contracts (PSCs) Muhammad Imaduddin told the FE Thursday. The bid submission deadline was extended on requests from some prospective IOCs, Mr Imaduddin said. The potential firms including Australian Santos, Thailand's Bangchak Petroleum Public Company Limited and China National Petroleum Corporation sought the time extension, another Petrobangla official said. The six blocks on offer for hydrocarbon exploration are SS-02, SS-03, SS-06, SS-08, SS-10 and SS-11. The shallow water blocks range in size from 4,463 sq km to 7,692 sq km, and they have water depths of 3-200 metres. Bangladesh's parent oil and gas company-Petrobangla-re-invited the IOCs in late May to bid for the six shallow-water blocks after receiving no bids for them in the first attempt. In the first attempt nine blocks were offered for hydrocarbon exploration, when bids were submitted for only three blocks and the remaining six saw no bid submission. The one-month time extension might not be enough for the IOCs to submit bids, the official said. The companies are looking anew to engage in the country's hydrocarbon exploration. The terms and conditions this time-oil and gas prices, profit sharing ratios and cost recovery provisions-would remain same as was on the previous occasion when bids were invited for nine blocks. Petrobangla has also offered one discovered shallow-water field at Teknaf under a 'special package' for exploration in the current bidding. The field has been tagged with the SS-10. During the earlier bidding for the nine shallow water blocks that ended on April 2, Bangladesh received bids for three despite extension of the initial bid submission deadline from March 18. The US-based ConocoPhillips submitted an offer for the block SS-07, and India's ONGC Videsh Ltd. for SS-04 and SS-09. In December, Bangladesh launched the fourth bidding round offering 12 offshore blocks for oil and gas exploration, nine in shallow water and three in deepwater. After the deepwater blocks attracted little interest, Petrobangla suspended bidding and softened the PSC terms. It is awaiting the final cabinet committee approval for the changes, endorsed by the energy ministry. It is yet to announce a new deadline for deepwater bids. Bangladesh is currently reeling under an acute natural gas crisis with the overall supplies hovering around 2,280 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) against the demand for 2,700-3,000 mmcfd. The country requires more exploration and allowing IOCs to engage more in hydrocarbon exploration as the country's current recoverable gas reserves of 16.36 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) are set to run out within the next decade if no new gas fields are discovered, industry sources and analysts warned. With the annual estimated growth of 10 per cent in demand for natural gas, the country's entire recoverable gas reserves are set to dry up by 2022, sources said. If the natural gas consumption rate is higher than the estimated rate, the reserves would last less than a decade, they added. The country will then have to depend entirely on import of natural gas through pipeline or in the form of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to meet the rising domestic demand.