The government is going to conduct a 2D multi-client survey in Bay of Bengal. An agreement in this regard will be signed with a foreign company this month.
To collect adequate data and information about resources of the Bay of Bengal the government had floated international tender early this year. Some eight foreign companies dropped quotations for the job. Sunday was the last date of dropping of biddings.
Energy Division official informed that biddings may be opened on Sunday evening. Only one company, which has experience in conducting the survey in at least three countries, will win the bid. And the Energy Division will sign an agreement to complete the survey within 20 months. Bay of Bengal covers about 75,000 square kilometers with the depth between 20 meters and 2,500 metres will be under survey.
After collecting the data Petrobangla, a state-owned oil, gas exploration and production company, will float international tender for extraction of gas and oil in the Bay, he said.
Energy Division Secretary Abu Bakar Siddique told, “It is the first 2D survey in the Bay of Bengal. We would float our next tender for oil and gas extraction based on the collected data. The Petrobangla would not spend any money for the survey. After opening of the biddings we would sign an evaluation agreement within a month.”
The government will not invest in the survey, thus it will lose the right over the data. The survey conducting company will be authorized to sell the data to any foreign company. So the company will recoup its investment by selling the data, he added.
The government would sign Production Sharing Conduct (PSC) in 2016 under the new PSC.
Earlier Bangladesh won its maritime dispute with India through an international arbitration and was awarded an area of 19,467 square kilometers out of the disputed 25,602 square kilometers in the Bay of Bengal.