Petrobangla set to allow Chevron instal gas compression station

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FE Report
The state-owned Petrobangla is set to approve a budget worth US$ 52.7 million for installation of a gas compression station at Muchai in the national grid for smooth transmission of natural gas, officials said Sunday.
Chevron is going to install the compressor following Petrobangla's recommendation for the US oil giant to set it up, he said.
"The budget for installation of the gas compression station by Chevron will be approved shortly," Petrobangla Chairman M Muqtadir Ali told the FE Sunday.
He said the energy ministry recently gave a go-ahead to the project.
An official said Chevron might take around 18 months to install the Muchai compressor to initiate its operation by December 2010.
This compressor station will serve to increase the gas transmission capacity with respect to both quantity and pressure of the existing 24" North-South and 30" Muchai-Ashuganj gas transmission pipeline, he added.
The Petrobangla recommended Chevron for installing the gas compression station after canceling a tender that saw South Korea's Hyundai emerge as the lowest bidder in early May this year.
Hyundai had quoted to install gas compression stations at three separate locations - Ashuganj, Elenga and Muchai.
The state-owned Gas Transmission Company Ltd (GTCL), which is authorized to distribute natural gas in the country, had previously invited tender for setting up all the three gas compressors at Ashuganj, Elenag and Muchai.
Chevron, which is already producing half of the country's total gas supply, had earlier proposed to install this compressor at GTCL's system at Muchai at a cost of around $52.7 million under the production sharing contract (PSC) for block-12.
Hyundai's bid for setting up all three-gas compression stations in the tender was around $149 million.
But Hyundai's bid was not accepted, as it did not qualify on a technical and financial basis, said a senior GTCL official.
When contacted a senior Chevron official said installation of compressors was not within the purview of Chevron's strategic objectives.
"However, given Muchai's location within Block 12, the company was willing to assist in the installation of the Muchai compressor when asked by Petrobangla last year - thereby helping to deliver more gas from all fields in the north-east Bangladesh, including Petrobangla's operations," said the official.