$7.75m cost hike for drilling Kailashtila gas well approved

The cabinet committee on government purchase on Wednesday approved five variation proposals related to the drilling in Kailashtila gas well and engineering services that would enhance the total drilling cost by US$7.752 million.
Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal chaired the virtually held meeting that also approved purchase proposals for fuel oil, fertiliser, soybean oil and lentils.
Briefing newsmen after the meeting, cabinet division additional secretary Sayed Mahbub Khan said the Sylhet Gas Fields Limited (SGFL) will have to pay an additional amount of $108,476 to UAE-based AlMansoori Petroleum Services due to enhancement of works relating to directional drilling services in the Kailashtila gas well.
The UAE-based company will be paid $34,544 more for enhancement of DST & Production Testing Services, he said, referring to another approval given to the SGFL.
He also informed that the SGFL will also pay $80,000 to M/S Halliburton International GmbH for the supply of additional volume of cement, cement additives, and cementation services with equipment.
Under the approval of another variation proposal, M/S China Petroleum Logging Co. Ltd. will be paid an amount of $120,701 for enhancement of wireline logging services. The SGFL will also pay $20,107 to M/S Pan Terra Geoconsultants BV for additional core & PVT analysis services.
The cabinet body also approved the SGFL to buy well drilling operation and third party engineering services from Bangladesh Petroleum Exploration and Production Company Limited (BAPEX) at a cost of Tk 806.54 million ($7.27 million).
The cabinet division official further said that the committee also approved procurement of 130,000 tonnes of fertiliser, 5.0 million litres of soybean oil, and 27,000 tonnes of lentils.
The Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation (BCIC) has been given approval to import 30,000 tonnes of bulk granular urea fertiliser from Fertiglobe Distribution Limited, UAE at a cost of Tk 1.263 billion.
The BCIC will also import 30,000 tonnes of bulk granular urea fertiliser from SABIC Agri Nutrients Company, Saudi Arabia at a cost of Tk 1.263 billion.
Mr Khan said the Bangladesh Agricultural Development Corporation (BADC) has been allowed to import 30,000 tonnes of TSP fertiliser from OCP, SA, Morocco by spending Tk 1.365 billion.
The corporation will also import 40,000 tonnes of DAP fertiliser from OCP, SA, Morocco at a cost of Tk 2.519 billion.
He said the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) will buy 6,000 tonnes of lentil, under local open tender method, from M/S Roy Traders by spending Tk 605.9 million.
The TCB in two other proposals have been given approval to buy 10,000 tonnes of lentil under international direct purchase method (DPM) at a cost of Tk 971.2 million. Each kilogram of lentil will cost Tk 102.13.
Under another approval, the TCB will buy 11,000 tonnes of lentil from Global Corporation and Abid Traders under local DPM method by spending Tk 1.10 billion where each kg of lentil will cost Tk 100.
Moreover, the TCB has been approved to buy 5.0 million litres of soybean oil from City Edible Oil Ltd. at a price of Tk 771.4 million.
Before the purchase committee meeting, the finance minister chaired a meeting of the cabinet committee on economic affairs which approved a proposal of the Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) to buy 3.8 million tonnes of refined fuel oil for January-December period of next year under direct purchase method on government-to-government arrangement.
Of the total procurement, 2.34 million tonnes gas oil, 375,000 tonnes Jet-A 1, 275,000 tonnes mogas, 750,000 tonnes furnace oil and 60,000 tonnes marine fuel.

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