Bangladesh has floated an international tender for the exploration of oil and gas in 24 maritime blocks in the Bay of Bengal.
State-owned, Bangladesh Oil, Gas, and Mineral Corporation (Petrobangla) published a notice on its website and in various newspapers on Sunday (10 March).
The tender, the first in eight years, extends to nine shallow-sea blocks and 15 deep-sea blocks for oil and gas exploration. It has been issued under a new Production Sharing Contract (PSC) in a bid to enhance energy production.
In the tender, bidders are instructed to submit their proposals by 1pm on 9 September of this year.
The tender documents are set to be unveiled an hour later in the presence of official observers, the notice added.
"The bid will be published as a notification in newspapers on 10 March. It will also be sent to embassies. Additionally, we will hold a press conference on 11 March addressing the matter," Petrobangla Chairman Zanendra Nath Sarker said on Saturday (9 March).
Bangladesh’s maritime boundary disputes with India and Myanmar were resolved in 2012 and 2014, respectively.
Despite this, there has been little progress in oil and gas exploration in the Bay of Bengal over the past 12 years.
Currently, there are 15 blocks in the deep-sea and 11 in shallow-sea regions.
The most recent tender for offshore oil and gas exploration was issued in 2016. Although a new PSC was signed in 2019, tenders were not initiated.
After nearly four years, the cabinet finally approved the new PSC agreement in July of last year.
Facilities have been improved significantly to attract foreign companies' interest.
American multinational corporation ConocoPhillips began operations on two deep-sea blocks in 2010, conducting a two-dimensional survey.
However, they later discontinued operations as their demand for a hike in gas prices was not met.
Additionally, Australia’s Santos and South Korea’s Posco Daewoo also withdrew from operations after the agreement.
Indian company ONGC is currently the sole company exploring gas and oil in two shallow-sea blocks.
Excluding these two, tenders are being invited for the remaining 24 blocks.
Petrobangla stated they have updated the PSC to attract multinational companies.
The new PSC does not specify a fixed price as before; instead, the price will be 10% of Brent crude oil, fluctuating with changes in the global market.
Energy experts believe that the solution to the country's energy crisis lies beneath the Bay of Bengal.
With Myanmar possessing vast gas reserves adjacent to Bangladesh's blocks, it is believed that new tender opportunities will unveil a realm of possibilities.
