Five international geophysical companies yesterday submitted tender documents for conducting a 2D multi-client seismic survey to hunt offshore hydrocarbon reserves of Bangladesh’s areas.
On December 10, Petrobangla, on behalf of the government, invited re-tender to conduct the survey. Sector insiders said the invitation for re-tenders would delay the exploration and extraction of oil and gas in the country’s offshore areas.
The first survey of its kind in the country’s history, the survey is deemed necessary following the settlement of Bangladesh’s maritime boundary issues with Myanmar and India.
The objective of the survey is to provide the oil and gas industry with 2D seismic data of the offshore areas of Bangladesh to aid basin evaluation, prospect generation and robust bid-round participation.
“Five interested companies submitted tender documents to conduct 2D seismic survey,” a Director of the Bangladesh Oil, Gas and Mineral Corporation, commonly known as Petrobangla, told the Dhaka Tribune.
“We have formed a tender evaluation committee headed by a director to evaluate the documents. After evalutaion, Petrobangla will select a company and sign a 10-year deal. Petrobangla will share the profits from selling the data,” he said.
The five companies are: Norway-US joint venture TGS-NOPEC and Schlumberger; Chinese company BGP; Russian Dalmorneftegeophysica (DMNG); Russian Marine Arctic Geological Expedition (MAGE) and UK-Based Spec Partners Ltd.
After a several-year pause, the government planned to formulate a fresh production sharing contract (PSC) to award offshore hydrocarbon blocks in the Bay of Bengal.
The settlement of the maritime border issues with the neighbours awarded Bangladesh a territorial sea covering 118,000 square kilometres and an exclusive economic zone extending to 200 nautical miles.
The coverage area in the Bay of Bengal is around 118,000 sq-km with water depth ranging from 20 metres to greater than 2,500 metres.
