High-level Russian energy co team due in country next week
Wednesday, 11 May 2011
FE Report
The Russian oil and gas firm Gazprom will send a high-level technical team to the country next week to get acquainted with its planned project works, before inking a bilateral energy cooperation deal, officials said Monday. The Gazprom team will visit several gas-fields and compression stations during the tour, a senior energy ministry official told the FE. The Russian delegation will also hold discussions with the government high-ups and experts of the state-owned Petrobangla, GTCL and Bapex. The Gazprom has already decided to drill five gas-wells and install two compression stations as the initial work of the long planned energy sector cooperation between Bangladesh and Russia. A 10-member technical delegation from Bangladesh visited Moscow last week and held discussions with key technical persons of the Gazprom. "The visit was fruitful, and the Gazprom has renewed its interest to establish energy sector cooperation with Bangladesh," said a member of the delegation Monday after returning from Moscow. The team, comprising experts on gas-well drilling and setting up compression stations, hold discussions with the top technical experts of the Gazprom, as the follow-up of the recent visit of the Gazprom team to Bangladesh. "I expect a deal with the Gazprom will be signed shortly," he said. The officials said the Gazprom will be the first foreign company to drill gas-wells at the state-owned gas-fields of Bangladesh under state-to-state negotiation. The government can award any contract or project work to any state-owned firm on the basis of negotiation and bypassing tender process under the current law. The Gazprom has expressed interest to help develop the country's ailing energy sector, as the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, also the minister of energy and power, sought Russia's cooperation during her visit there last year. The capacity constraint of the state-owned Bangladesh Petroleum Exploration and Production Company (Bapex) and Gas Transmission Company Ltd (GTCL) in undertaking necessary project work forced the government to seek cooperation from the foreign firm.
The Russian oil and gas firm Gazprom will send a high-level technical team to the country next week to get acquainted with its planned project works, before inking a bilateral energy cooperation deal, officials said Monday. The Gazprom team will visit several gas-fields and compression stations during the tour, a senior energy ministry official told the FE. The Russian delegation will also hold discussions with the government high-ups and experts of the state-owned Petrobangla, GTCL and Bapex. The Gazprom has already decided to drill five gas-wells and install two compression stations as the initial work of the long planned energy sector cooperation between Bangladesh and Russia. A 10-member technical delegation from Bangladesh visited Moscow last week and held discussions with key technical persons of the Gazprom. "The visit was fruitful, and the Gazprom has renewed its interest to establish energy sector cooperation with Bangladesh," said a member of the delegation Monday after returning from Moscow. The team, comprising experts on gas-well drilling and setting up compression stations, hold discussions with the top technical experts of the Gazprom, as the follow-up of the recent visit of the Gazprom team to Bangladesh. "I expect a deal with the Gazprom will be signed shortly," he said. The officials said the Gazprom will be the first foreign company to drill gas-wells at the state-owned gas-fields of Bangladesh under state-to-state negotiation. The government can award any contract or project work to any state-owned firm on the basis of negotiation and bypassing tender process under the current law. The Gazprom has expressed interest to help develop the country's ailing energy sector, as the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, also the minister of energy and power, sought Russia's cooperation during her visit there last year. The capacity constraint of the state-owned Bangladesh Petroleum Exploration and Production Company (Bapex) and Gas Transmission Company Ltd (GTCL) in undertaking necessary project work forced the government to seek cooperation from the foreign firm.