High officials of the energy sector are frustrated over the government's decision to float fresh international tenders for oil and gas exploration on land and the shallow parts of the Bay of Bengal.
There are not many potential areas left for Bapex, the state-run company for oil and gas exploration and production, since the major potential areas were awarded to the international oil companies in the bidding round in 1997, said Petrobangla officials.
Hossain Monsur, chairman of the state-run Petrobangla, at a meeting on Thursday held to discuss the proposed bidding round in 2011 and modification of the Production Sharing Contract 2008, is reported to have objected to the government's decision to allow the international oil companies to look for oil and gas on land and in shallow areas of the sea, said an Energy Division official.
Monsur reportedly told the meeting that the government had bought the Bapex drilling rigs and equipment for carrying out seismic surveys, so it is capable of exploring gas and oil, and needs only to be provided potential areas.
He was said to have urged the state minister for power, energy and mineral resources, Enamul Huq, to have the issue resolved in the Parliament by the people's representatives.
Petrobangla's director Imad Uddin, while presenting a power point presentation on the proposed model PSC at the meeting, said that Petrobangla was ready to call fresh bids for petroleum exploration in all the hydrocarbon blocks in the country.
When asked about the issue by New Age, Enamul Huq said that they were considering the idea of strengthening the Bapex, ensuring long-term energy security and meeting the immediate energy need of the country.
'Bapex's capacity is increasing. It can now conduct three-dimensional seismic surveys. So we need to think about strengthening the Bapex to enable it to operate for over 20 years or more,' he said.
Enamul Huq refused to reveal when the bidding round of 2011 for oil and gas exploration on land and in shallow sea would be held.
He said that more time would be needed to float international tenders as there were many things to be settled which were both technically and politically complicated.
In an inter-ministry meeting on April 6, the government decided to float fresh international tenders for oil and gas exploration on land and in shallow sea by June this year.
After the meeting the energy secretary, Mohammad Mesbah Uddin, told journalists that Petrobangla would invite fresh bids for 31 hydrocarbon bocks — 23 on land and 8 in the shallow parts of the Bay of Bengal.
On the same occasion Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury, the prime minister's energy adviser, said that they had in principle decided to keep some potential hydrocarbon blocks for Bapex but they were yet to be finalised.
In the meeting, Petrobangla was asked to modify the model PSC before it floats international tenders.
According to the proposal, the Petrobangla or its affiliates will buy the contractor's share of gas and pay it $4.157 for 1,000 cubic feet of natural gas extracted from the western part of land and shallow sea instead of $2.87 and $2.90 respectively.
For gas from the deep sea, the Petrobangla will pay the contractor $4.573 for one unit of its share of natural gas.
An official of the Energy Division said that there were more changes proposed in the model PSC.
At present, four international oil companies are supplying more than 52 per cent of the total gas to the national grid from the six fields under their control.
Source : New Age
