Petrobangla, the state-run oil, gas and mineral corporation, on Thursday approved the one-year work-plan of US oil company ConocoPhillips for conducting seismic surveys in the country's deep-sea hydrocarbon Blocks 10 and 11, said an official.
He said that ConocoPhillips would conduct 2,200 line kilometre two-dimensional seismic surveys in the Bay of Bengal, which will start by the end of this year. The US oil
company will invest above $2.5 million for conducting the first phase of the surveys.
Before the seismic surveys, ConocoPhillips
will carry out an environment impact assessment. It has awarded the job to a local consultancy firm, SMEC Bangladesh, out of four firms who were short-listed.
According to the work-plan, the SMEC is scheduled to submit the report on environmental impact by November.
The official also said that ConocoPhillips would submit its work-plan for the next year at another meeting of the joint review committee in November this year to get its approval.
According to the mandatory work programme in the model production sharing contract, the company will have to conduct a two-dimensional seismic survey in an area measuring 10 km x 10 km over the whole of the two blocks.
As per the work programme in the PSC, the contractor will have to conduct a 973 line kilometre seismic survey, and drill one exploration well, which is optional.
The government on June 16 this year signed the PSC with ConocoPhillips for oil and gas exploration and extraction in deep sea hydrocarbon Blocks 10 and 11 in spite of widespread protests by experts, civic forums and political organisations.
Source : New Age
