Bangladesh has signed two deals with India’s state-owned ONGC Videsh Limited and Oil India Limited in a bid to start oil and gas exploration in two offshore shallow blocks in the Bay of Bengal.
Senior Assistant secretary for Energy and Mineral Resources Division Khadiza Naznin, Secretary of Petrobangla Imam Hossain, Secretary of Bangladesh Petroleum Exploration and Production Company Limited (Bapex) Md Abdus Sabur, Head of Geo-Science and Business Development of ONGC Videsh Ltd NR Hazarika and Oil India Ltd General Manager (Geology), BD Asia Pacific, AJ Duggal signed the deals on behalf of their respective sides.
The deal signing ceremony took place at the office of Petrobangla, state-owned Oil, Gas & Mineral Company, in the afternoon.
Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith attended the signing ceremonies as the chief guest while prime minister’s Adviser Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury and State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid attended the event as special guests.
Deals were supposed to be penned on December last year, but political turmoil held back the signing, sources told the Dhaka Tribune today.
India’s ONGC had offered to invest $58.4m to conduct 2D-seismic survey of 2,700 line-km, 3D-seismic survey of a 200sq-km area and drill two wells in block 4. The government’s profit-sharing ratio will be 60%-85% for gas and 70%-90% for oil.
It had also offered to invest $86.4m to conduct 2D survey of 2,850 line-km, 3D survey of a 300sq-km area in block 9 and drill three wells.
