IOCs to get 9 offshore blocks for oil and gas exploration
M Azizur Rahman | Monday, 14 July 2008
The government is expected to award nine offshore blocks, nearly one-third of the total as offered, to the international oil companies (IOCs) for oil and gas exploration in the Bay as the bid evaluation committee has submitted its final report Sunday, officials said.
The bid winning companies have pledged to invest a total of US$492.52 million to conduct oil and gas exploration in the nine blocks.
"We have submitted the report following two months of evaluation and found two of the IOC bids for nine blocks as responsive," Convenor of the bid evaluation committee Maqbul-E-Elahi told the FE Sunday after submission of the report.
He said among the nine blocks eight are in deep water and one is in shallow depth in the Bay of Bengal.
The US-based ConocoPhilips came out as the most successful bidder as it won all the eight deep-water blocks it submitted for, while Irish Tullow also bagged the lone shallow water gas block it competed for.
In its bid the US oil company ConocoPhillips offered to invest $442.67 million, which would be provided in the form of a bank guarantee, against four proposed production-sharing contracts (PSCs) for eight offshore gas blocks.
Tullow Bangladesh Ltd committed to invest $49.85 million in one shallow water block and offered bank guarantee worth $33.9 million against their exploration works.
When contacted special assistant to chief adviser M Tamim said the energy ministry would award these blocks to the bid winners as per the declared timeframe of October this year.
He also said no further endorsement from the council of advisers is required for awarding these blocks as the model PSC was earlier approved by the committee.
In its assessment the bid evaluation committee found bids of seven IOCs including those of Australian major Santos International, Chinese CNOOC and US-China joint venture Longwoods Resources Ltd, Korea National Oil Corporation of South Korea and Comtrack Services Ltd of UK non-responsive.
These IOCs have submitted either unacceptable profit-sharing offers or lacked other necessary qualifications as mentioned in the model production-sharing contract (MPSC), said a senior Petrobangla official talking about the reason of their non-responsive offers.
Bangladesh in mid-February 2008 offered a total of 28 blocks for oil and gas exploration of which 20 were located in the deep-sea and eight in shallow-depth.
Seven IOCs submitted bids for 15 offshore gas blocks in the latest offshore bidding round that closed on May 7 last.
Of the 15 gas blocks that attracted foreign companies three were for shallow-water and 12 deep-water gas blocks.
There was only a single bidder for the nine of the gas blocks, including the three shallow water gas blocks.
No local company took part in the bidding as they failed to qualify. The minimum requirement for taking part in the bidding was having the experience to operate in at least one offshore gas or oilfield, producing 25,000 barrel of oil equivalent.
The deep water gas blocks for which the ConocoPhilips became responsive are DS-08-10, DS-08-11, DS-08-12, DS-08-15, DS-08-16, DS-08-17, DS-08-20 and DS-08-21.
Tullow Bangladesh Ltd became responsive for the shallow-depth block SS-08-05.
For the deep-water gas block DS-08-10 ConocoPhilips had two other competitors Santos joint venture with Cairn (Capricorn) and Korea International Oil Corporation.
For bagging four deep water gas blocks DS-08-11, DS-08-12, DS-08-15 and DS-08-16 ConocoPhilips got Santos joint ventures as the lone competitor.
ConocoPhilips came out responsive as the single bidder for three deep water gas blocks - DS-08-17, DS-08-20 and DS-08-21.
For the shallow-depth block SS-08-05, Tullow was the single bidder.
In its bid Australian oil company Santos International appeared as the top bidder in terms of expenditure with a proposal for investing US$852 million but offered only 35 per cent profit out of total gas sales to Petrobangla in place of 55 per cent as prescribed in the MPSC, Petrobangla officials said.
Chinese-US joint venture Longwoods Resources Ltd offered to invest $170 million in three blocks.
Comtrack Services offered to invest $61 million in two blocks and Chinese oil giant CNOOC offered $115 million in one shallow water block.
Korea National Oil Corporation of South Korea submitted bid for a block offering bank guarantee worth $2.5 million without making any investment commitment.
Of the non-responsive IOCs Santos submitted bids for gas blocks DS-08-10, DS-08-11, DS-08-12, DS-08-15, DS-08-16 and DS-08-13.
Korea International Oil Corporation submitted bid for deep-water gas block DS-08-10.
Comtrack Services Ltd submitted bids for two deep-water gas blocks - DS-08-09 and DS-08-14.
The bid winning companies have pledged to invest a total of US$492.52 million to conduct oil and gas exploration in the nine blocks.
"We have submitted the report following two months of evaluation and found two of the IOC bids for nine blocks as responsive," Convenor of the bid evaluation committee Maqbul-E-Elahi told the FE Sunday after submission of the report.
He said among the nine blocks eight are in deep water and one is in shallow depth in the Bay of Bengal.
The US-based ConocoPhilips came out as the most successful bidder as it won all the eight deep-water blocks it submitted for, while Irish Tullow also bagged the lone shallow water gas block it competed for.
In its bid the US oil company ConocoPhillips offered to invest $442.67 million, which would be provided in the form of a bank guarantee, against four proposed production-sharing contracts (PSCs) for eight offshore gas blocks.
Tullow Bangladesh Ltd committed to invest $49.85 million in one shallow water block and offered bank guarantee worth $33.9 million against their exploration works.
When contacted special assistant to chief adviser M Tamim said the energy ministry would award these blocks to the bid winners as per the declared timeframe of October this year.
He also said no further endorsement from the council of advisers is required for awarding these blocks as the model PSC was earlier approved by the committee.
In its assessment the bid evaluation committee found bids of seven IOCs including those of Australian major Santos International, Chinese CNOOC and US-China joint venture Longwoods Resources Ltd, Korea National Oil Corporation of South Korea and Comtrack Services Ltd of UK non-responsive.
These IOCs have submitted either unacceptable profit-sharing offers or lacked other necessary qualifications as mentioned in the model production-sharing contract (MPSC), said a senior Petrobangla official talking about the reason of their non-responsive offers.
Bangladesh in mid-February 2008 offered a total of 28 blocks for oil and gas exploration of which 20 were located in the deep-sea and eight in shallow-depth.
Seven IOCs submitted bids for 15 offshore gas blocks in the latest offshore bidding round that closed on May 7 last.
Of the 15 gas blocks that attracted foreign companies three were for shallow-water and 12 deep-water gas blocks.
There was only a single bidder for the nine of the gas blocks, including the three shallow water gas blocks.
No local company took part in the bidding as they failed to qualify. The minimum requirement for taking part in the bidding was having the experience to operate in at least one offshore gas or oilfield, producing 25,000 barrel of oil equivalent.
The deep water gas blocks for which the ConocoPhilips became responsive are DS-08-10, DS-08-11, DS-08-12, DS-08-15, DS-08-16, DS-08-17, DS-08-20 and DS-08-21.
Tullow Bangladesh Ltd became responsive for the shallow-depth block SS-08-05.
For the deep-water gas block DS-08-10 ConocoPhilips had two other competitors Santos joint venture with Cairn (Capricorn) and Korea International Oil Corporation.
For bagging four deep water gas blocks DS-08-11, DS-08-12, DS-08-15 and DS-08-16 ConocoPhilips got Santos joint ventures as the lone competitor.
ConocoPhilips came out responsive as the single bidder for three deep water gas blocks - DS-08-17, DS-08-20 and DS-08-21.
For the shallow-depth block SS-08-05, Tullow was the single bidder.
In its bid Australian oil company Santos International appeared as the top bidder in terms of expenditure with a proposal for investing US$852 million but offered only 35 per cent profit out of total gas sales to Petrobangla in place of 55 per cent as prescribed in the MPSC, Petrobangla officials said.
Chinese-US joint venture Longwoods Resources Ltd offered to invest $170 million in three blocks.
Comtrack Services offered to invest $61 million in two blocks and Chinese oil giant CNOOC offered $115 million in one shallow water block.
Korea National Oil Corporation of South Korea submitted bid for a block offering bank guarantee worth $2.5 million without making any investment commitment.
Of the non-responsive IOCs Santos submitted bids for gas blocks DS-08-10, DS-08-11, DS-08-12, DS-08-15, DS-08-16 and DS-08-13.
Korea International Oil Corporation submitted bid for deep-water gas block DS-08-10.
Comtrack Services Ltd submitted bids for two deep-water gas blocks - DS-08-09 and DS-08-14.