Fresh bidding for onshore HC exploration by year-end
Sunday, 27 June 2010
M Azizur Rahman
The government will launch a fresh bidding round for onshore hydrocarbon (HC) exploration by the year-end, as the country's offshore prospect is being stymied over the long-pending maritime boundary disputes, top officials said Saturday.
"We are going to float international tender for the onshore bidding by December 2010 to hunt new gas reserves, as the country's existing reserves are depleting fast," Petrobangla chairman Dr Hossain Monsur told the FE Saturday.
The energy ministry has already instructed Petrobangla to take necessary steps for launching the onshore bidding round, he said.
"We are now drafting model production sharing contract (PSC) for leasing out unexplored onshore gas blocks to foreign firms."
Petrobangla is also demarcating the onshore blocks to offer before the global players, he added.
The government has moved to lease out the country's onshore gas blocks to foreign oil and gas companies after a long era of the previous onshore bidding round.
A nine-year ban by a local court over signing of production sharing contracts (PSCs) with foreign firms has delayed launching of the country's much needed onshore bidding since 2001. The local court lifted the ban in this January.
The ban was imposed by High Court after filing of a public interest litigation suit following Magurchhara gasfield explosion in the country's northeastern Moulvibazar in 1997. Since then, the ban had stood in the way of fresh PSCs.
In 2006, Petrobangla moved to get the court order lifted, but the court only withdrew a portion of its injunction, allowing signing of PSCs for offshore gas blocks alone.
The state-owned Petrobangla in 2008 floated a global tender for offshore gasfields, and US ConocoPhillips and Irish Tullow Oil were successful. But signing of PSCs remained stalled due to overlapping disputes with neighbours, as Myanmar and India have claimed part ownership over the three offshore blocks awarded to ConocoPhillips and Tullow.
Bangladesh also asked both of the companies not to carry out hydrocarbon exploration in the disputed areas of the offshore blocks, forcing the companies to restrain their exploration work.
The country is now holding talks with neighbours to settle the maritime boundary disputes for kicking off explorations in the prospective offshore areas. It has also lodged suit with the United Nations tribunal to resolve the maritime boundary disputes.
Currently more than 98 per cent of the country's total gas output, amounting to 1,940 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd), comes from onshore gasfields, while below two per cent or 35 mmcfd comes from the lone operative offshore Sangu gasfield. Bangladesh is now facing a shortfall of 500 mmcfd of gas.
The government will launch a fresh bidding round for onshore hydrocarbon (HC) exploration by the year-end, as the country's offshore prospect is being stymied over the long-pending maritime boundary disputes, top officials said Saturday.
"We are going to float international tender for the onshore bidding by December 2010 to hunt new gas reserves, as the country's existing reserves are depleting fast," Petrobangla chairman Dr Hossain Monsur told the FE Saturday.
The energy ministry has already instructed Petrobangla to take necessary steps for launching the onshore bidding round, he said.
"We are now drafting model production sharing contract (PSC) for leasing out unexplored onshore gas blocks to foreign firms."
Petrobangla is also demarcating the onshore blocks to offer before the global players, he added.
The government has moved to lease out the country's onshore gas blocks to foreign oil and gas companies after a long era of the previous onshore bidding round.
A nine-year ban by a local court over signing of production sharing contracts (PSCs) with foreign firms has delayed launching of the country's much needed onshore bidding since 2001. The local court lifted the ban in this January.
The ban was imposed by High Court after filing of a public interest litigation suit following Magurchhara gasfield explosion in the country's northeastern Moulvibazar in 1997. Since then, the ban had stood in the way of fresh PSCs.
In 2006, Petrobangla moved to get the court order lifted, but the court only withdrew a portion of its injunction, allowing signing of PSCs for offshore gas blocks alone.
The state-owned Petrobangla in 2008 floated a global tender for offshore gasfields, and US ConocoPhillips and Irish Tullow Oil were successful. But signing of PSCs remained stalled due to overlapping disputes with neighbours, as Myanmar and India have claimed part ownership over the three offshore blocks awarded to ConocoPhillips and Tullow.
Bangladesh also asked both of the companies not to carry out hydrocarbon exploration in the disputed areas of the offshore blocks, forcing the companies to restrain their exploration work.
The country is now holding talks with neighbours to settle the maritime boundary disputes for kicking off explorations in the prospective offshore areas. It has also lodged suit with the United Nations tribunal to resolve the maritime boundary disputes.
Currently more than 98 per cent of the country's total gas output, amounting to 1,940 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd), comes from onshore gasfields, while below two per cent or 35 mmcfd comes from the lone operative offshore Sangu gasfield. Bangladesh is now facing a shortfall of 500 mmcfd of gas.