Petrobangla asked to submit work plan for hydrocarbon exploration
Thursday, 1 November 2007
M Azizur Rahman
The Energy and Mineral Resources Division (EMRD) has asked the state-owned Petrobangla to submit a time-bound work plan to launch the offshore hydrocarbon exploration in the Bay of Bengal immediately.
"The EMRD has sought the work plan afresh from Petrobangla to check further delay in initiating the international bidding round to explore new gas fields in the deep sea," a senior EMRD official told the FE Wednesday.
He said no significant headway has been made since embarking on the plan to launch new offshore biddings for hydrocarbon exploration two years ago, due to lack of commitment, coupled with bureaucratic tangle.
Though the EMRD had set separate deadlines for launching of the offshore hydrocarbon exploration, all efforts went in vain due to very slow pace of work, it was alleged.
Under the latest EMRD directive, the energy division has asked Petrobangla to submit the work plan as early as possible.
"The prime target of the EMRD is to complete the bidding round including awarding of the gas blocks to the bid winners by July 2008," said the EMRD official.
Following the initiation of the plan to launch offshore hydrocarbon exploration, the EMRD finalised the model production sharing contracts (PSCs), dotted new offshore gas blocks and their acreages during the last two years.
The EMRD dotted a total of 27 new offshore gas blocks in the Bay of Bengal for hydrocarbon exploration under the third round bidding.
Of the new gas blocks, 20 are demarcated in the deep-sea while the remaining seven, in the shallow waters of the Bay.
The acreages of the shallow water offshore gas blocks will range between 5,000 square kilometres and 5,500 square kilometres each, while for deep-sea gas blocks the acreages are 3,300 square kilometres each.
These newly created offshore gas blocks have been divided into two categories - 'A' type and 'B' type.
A total of 20 gas blocks belonging to 'A' category is located from the seashore to 20 degree north latitude into the Bay of Bengal.
While the 'B' category consists of seven deeper offshore gas blocks that are located from 20-degree north latitude to 18-degree north latitude in the Bay, a senior Petrobangla official said.
The EMRD also sought opinion from the ministries of finance, commerce, law and the national board of revenue (NBR) on the draft PSC for offshore exploration.
The finance ministry and the NBR have already sent their opinions on the draft PSC.
Currently the government has eight PSCs with the international oil companies (IOCs) for 10 blocks across the country.
The government signed these PSCs in the first and second round biddings in 1993 and 1997.
The first round bidding was floated after the country was divided into 23 blocks for oil and gas exploration, making an amendment to the Petroleum Act in 1993.
After the first round bidding, four onshore blocks of 12, 13, 14 and 22 and four offshore blocks of 15, 16, 17 and 18 were awarded to the IOCs.
The second round bidding was held in 1997, when 5, 7, 9 and 10 blocks were awarded to IOCs and 8 and 11 blocks were awarded to Bangladesh Petroleum Exploration and Production Company (BAPEX).
The Energy and Mineral Resources Division (EMRD) has asked the state-owned Petrobangla to submit a time-bound work plan to launch the offshore hydrocarbon exploration in the Bay of Bengal immediately.
"The EMRD has sought the work plan afresh from Petrobangla to check further delay in initiating the international bidding round to explore new gas fields in the deep sea," a senior EMRD official told the FE Wednesday.
He said no significant headway has been made since embarking on the plan to launch new offshore biddings for hydrocarbon exploration two years ago, due to lack of commitment, coupled with bureaucratic tangle.
Though the EMRD had set separate deadlines for launching of the offshore hydrocarbon exploration, all efforts went in vain due to very slow pace of work, it was alleged.
Under the latest EMRD directive, the energy division has asked Petrobangla to submit the work plan as early as possible.
"The prime target of the EMRD is to complete the bidding round including awarding of the gas blocks to the bid winners by July 2008," said the EMRD official.
Following the initiation of the plan to launch offshore hydrocarbon exploration, the EMRD finalised the model production sharing contracts (PSCs), dotted new offshore gas blocks and their acreages during the last two years.
The EMRD dotted a total of 27 new offshore gas blocks in the Bay of Bengal for hydrocarbon exploration under the third round bidding.
Of the new gas blocks, 20 are demarcated in the deep-sea while the remaining seven, in the shallow waters of the Bay.
The acreages of the shallow water offshore gas blocks will range between 5,000 square kilometres and 5,500 square kilometres each, while for deep-sea gas blocks the acreages are 3,300 square kilometres each.
These newly created offshore gas blocks have been divided into two categories - 'A' type and 'B' type.
A total of 20 gas blocks belonging to 'A' category is located from the seashore to 20 degree north latitude into the Bay of Bengal.
While the 'B' category consists of seven deeper offshore gas blocks that are located from 20-degree north latitude to 18-degree north latitude in the Bay, a senior Petrobangla official said.
The EMRD also sought opinion from the ministries of finance, commerce, law and the national board of revenue (NBR) on the draft PSC for offshore exploration.
The finance ministry and the NBR have already sent their opinions on the draft PSC.
Currently the government has eight PSCs with the international oil companies (IOCs) for 10 blocks across the country.
The government signed these PSCs in the first and second round biddings in 1993 and 1997.
The first round bidding was floated after the country was divided into 23 blocks for oil and gas exploration, making an amendment to the Petroleum Act in 1993.
After the first round bidding, four onshore blocks of 12, 13, 14 and 22 and four offshore blocks of 15, 16, 17 and 18 were awarded to the IOCs.
The second round bidding was held in 1997, when 5, 7, 9 and 10 blocks were awarded to IOCs and 8 and 11 blocks were awarded to Bangladesh Petroleum Exploration and Production Company (BAPEX).