Dhaka Bureau: The American multinational company Exxon Mobil has expressed interest in investing heavily in the exploration of oil and gas in the deep seas of Bangladesh. They have proposed to invest 3 lakh, 25 thousand, and 5 billion rupees. Which is 30 billion dollars in US currency. The source of the power and energy department has informed me of the matter.
The source told the media that Exxon Mobil New Opportunity Manager Jonathan Wilson has written to Minister of State for Power, Energy, and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid expressing his interest in signing the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in this regard by next August. The US company sent this letter to the power department on Sunday, July 16. Earlier, Exxon Mobil officials had a meeting with the State Minister of Energy. This letter was sent soon after.
The source of the Department of Electricity and Energy also told the media that in the letter, the US company said that they want to conduct a two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) survey in the search for oil and gas in the deep sea of Bangladesh. Earlier, the company had sought the lease of all 15 blocks of Sagar. However, the government has taken their proposal positively this time. It has been decided to form a high-level committee with experts to discuss the matter. ExxonMobil said in the letter that it will invest 40 to 50 million US dollars in two-dimensional surveys to search for deep-sea resources. If there is a possibility of getting oil and gas in it, a three-dimensional survey will be done. It will cost 50 to 100 million US dollars. Apart from this, the company has shown interest in investing 80 million dollars in the development of each well, as well as 10 to 30 billion dollars for the purpose of deep sea exploration.
If the whole process is successful, Bangladesh will save USD 3 billion annually compared to importing liquefied natural gas (LNG). It is known that, when the proposal was sent to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, she gave her principled consent. However, before the final agreement, he ordered the concerned parties to have a detailed discussion with him. There has already been a high-level committee on this. A Production Partnership Agreement (PSC) will be signed with Exxon Mobil this year. In this regard, Minister of State for Power, Energy, and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid told the media that Exxon Mobil has expressed interest in working in deep sea blocks. Several letters expressed their interest. Exxon Mobil is repeatedly contacting our government officials.
Regarding the revision of the Production Partnership Agreement (PSC), he said the issue of revision of the PSC has been finalized. It is now awaiting Cabinet approval. Incidentally, the Bay of Bengal has been divided into 26 blocks following maritime disputes with neighboring Myanmar and India. Out of which there are 11 blocks in the shallow part. And there are 15 blocks in the deep sea. The water depth in shallow blocks is up to 200 meters. Next is the deep-sea block. ExxonMobil is trying to lease 15 blocks in the deep sea together. Since 2014, Petrobangla has been trying to lease offshore blocks. But there was no response.
Cairns Energy discovered the Sangu gas field in 1996 in shallow-sea Block 9, which is the country’s only offshore gas field to date. Gas production started there in 1998. The gas field was declared abandoned in 2013 due to the depletion of reserves. Apart from this, although gas was found on the coast of Qutubdia, it was not considered commercially extractable. US-based oil and gas company ConocoPhillips won the lease for the deep-sea blocks DS-10 and DS-11 in a 2008 tender process. After two years of exploration work, Conoco abandoned Block 2 in 2014 due to disagreements over rising gas prices.
Through another international tender called in December 2012, Conoco and State Oil jointly submitted bids for three deep-sea blocks: DS-12, DS-16, and DS-21. Later, Conoco pulled out, and the blocks could not be leased. At the same time, Petrobangla called a separate tender for the shallow-sea blocks. This bidding process took the leases of Block No. SS11 to Santos and Chris Energy and Block Nos. SS4 and SS9 to two Indian companies, ONGC Videsh (OVL) and Oil India (OIL). But now only the Indian state-owned ONGC Videsh Limited (OVL) is working in one block by the sea.
