Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Asia Pulse Pte Ltd.
Bangladesh's state-owned oil and gas firm Petrobangla may get the final nod sometime next in June and begin international bidding for the country's gas blocks in July, Energy Ministry officials have said.
According to the officials, the preparation is progressing at an accelerated pace targeting the middle of the year to invite international oil companies (IOCs) in the Bidding Round 2011.
This will be the fourth international bidding after the last caretaker government had invited the third round bidding in 2008.
Energy Ministry officials said the nagging gas crisis has prompted the government to go for hurried international bidding.
An official said the Petrobangla has already prepared a map for the whole bidding area covering both the offshore and onshore areas of the country.
As per the bidding plan, the country's total area has been divided into 68 gas blocks but the bidding will be held for only 31 blocks - 23 onshore areas and eight offshore areas. During the third round bidding, the country's total area was divided into 57 gas blocks.
An Energy Ministry official said the bidding will be kept confined only within the onshore and shallow-water block areas where no dispute exists.
He said the blocks located in deep sea areas have been left out of the bidding as some of them have disputes of overlapping with neighbors.
The disputed areas now await a settlement in the UNCLOS, a UN agency responsible to deal with the maritime boundary dispute for settlement.
Petrobangla officials said they have already sent an initial plan to the Energy Division for scrutiny and necessary observation.
"Upon receiving the Energy Division's observations, we will prepare the final draft for the bidding and also other relevant documentations, including some promotional packages for the interested investors," a top official of Petrobangla told UNB.
"Petrobangla will then place the bidding plan to an inter-ministerial meeting to be convened by the Energy Ministry," he said. "When we receive the nod from that meeting, we would go for the bidding."
The official felt that the remaining process will take about a month and the bidding will finally be floated in July.
He said in the coming round of bidding, there will be some changes in the context of global scenario of hydrocarbon and petroleum business.
(C) 2011 Asia Pulse Pte Ltd.
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