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Dhaka Saturday,  Mar 30, 2024

Petrobangla invites Conoco to sign deal

EB Reporter

Petrobangla, the state owned oil and gas corporation, has written to the US-based ConocoPhillips and Norway-based Statoil ASA to sign the final deal with it for exploring oil and gas in the offshore blocks 12, 16 and 21.
Referring to a Cabinet decision, Petrobangla on Thursday sent an invitation letter to the joint-venture of Conoco and Statoil to come to Dhaka for signing the final deal, Petrobangla sources said.
Meanwhile, the joint venture company wants to sit with the top policy makers of the energy sector before signing the final contract.
According to the Energy Division, the policy makers will sit with the IOCs but it has no authority to change any clause of the Model PSC 2012. However, it could help the company when the gas purchase and sales agreement (GPSA) will be finalised, a senior official said.
According to sources, the IOCs want to sit with the government once again to settle its long-standing demands for an increase in the price of gas to be available from the blocks or some extra benefits like waiver of tax-VAT from its income.
Although the US oil giant gave its final consent in January last and accordingly the Cabinet Committee on Government Purchase approved the proposal of Petrobangla to award three deep-sea gas blocks to ConocoPhillips and Statoil ASA for exploring oil and gas in the Bay of Bengal on February 19, it now wants to discuss the issues again, Energy Ministry sources said.
The US-based ConocoPhillips and the Norway-based Statoil ASA were selected for exploring oil and gas in three deep-sea blocks in the Bay, known as offshore blocks 12, 16 and 21.

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