The government has extended by one more month the bid procurement and submission deadline, which expires today, for oil and gas exploration in six shallow sea blocks in the Bay of Bengal.
According to the new schedule, the deadline for procurement and submission of bids will now expire on July 27, energy division secretary Md. Mozammel Haque Khan told Dhaka Tribune yesterday.
“Petrobangla had earlier fixed June 27 for bid submission, but none of the international oil companies (IOCs) has submitted documents till date. So, we have extended the deadline,” Mozammel said.
The blocks earmarked for the bidding are - shallow sea blocks are 2, 3, 6, 8, 10 and 11. Bangladesh now has 46 onshore and offshore blocks.
Last December, Petrobangla invited international tender for exploring oil and gas in 12 blocks under offshore bidding round 2012. Among them, nine blocks are in shallow sea and three in deep sea.
A total of 16 companies bought tender documents for the shallow sea blocks. But only two firms dropped bidding documents for three of the nine blocks on April 2.
US-based ConocoPhillips submitted tender for block 07, while India’s state-owned ONGC Videsh Ltd bid for blocks 04 and 09. ConocoPhillips was awarded two blocks in 2011, but ONGC Videsh Ltd is going to operate in Bangladesh for the first time.
Earlier, international bidding was called under the PSC in 1993, 1997 and 2008. Apart from ConocoPhillips, three other IOCs are working in Bangladesh – Chevron, Santos and Tallow.
