ConocoPhillips seeks exploration rights for 6 deepwater gas blocks in Bangladesh
ConocoPhillips has sought exploration rights for six deepwater gas
blocks in the Bay of Bengal, for which it was selected as the best
bidder in 2008 but that were not awarded, as Bangladesh was in the
midst of boundary disputes with neighbors Myanmar and India,
Petrobangla Chairman Hussain Monsur said late last week.
ConocoPhillips sent a letter last week to Petrobangla asking for the
exploration rights after Bangladesh recently won a favorable verdict
against Myanmar from an international tribunal, Monsur said.
Of the six deep water blocks ConocoPhillips is now eyeing, four blocks
-- --DS-08-12; DS-08-16; DS-08-17 and DS-08-21 -- are disputed with
Myanmar and two -- DS-08-15; DS-08-20 -- with India.
State-owned Petrobangla is, however, not yet to sure whether the
ruling clears the disputed blocks with Myanmar as it has not received
an official copy of the verdict, Petrobangla's director for production
sharing contracts Muhammad Imaduddin said.
"We have not yet confirmed whether the full area of the four disputed
blocks with Myanmar is clear, following the ITLOS [International
Tribunal for the Law of the Sea] verdict," he said.
He added that Petrobangla would be able to determine the latest
position of the blocks soon after the scrutiny of the ruling.
Imaduddin, however, did not say anything whether these blocks would be
awarded to ConocoPhillips after scrutiny. "It is the government which
will decide on it," he said.
The US firm was selected by Petrobangla for exploration in eight
deepwater gas blocks following the country's February 2008 bidding
round; and the energy ministry had then also endorsed Petrobangla's
recommendation to award these blocks to the US firm. But only two
blocks were awarded as India and Myanmar began protesting that the
blocks overlapped with their territory.
Bangladesh awarded the two deepwater gas blocks -- for partial
exploration -- to ConocoPhillips after a series of meetings three
years after the launch of the bidding round, allowing them to explore
around 70% of block DS-08-10 and 85% of block DS-08-11.
The tribunal on March 14 upheld Bangladesh's claim to an exclusive
economic zone of 200 nautical miles in the Bay of Bengal, and to a
substantial share of the outer continental shelf beyond, thus ending
its maritime boundary dispute with Myanmar.
As a result, the US firm will now be able to explore the full area
covered under the DS-08-11 block. But it has to wait for a verdict in
the boundary dispute case between Bangladesh and India before its
position in the second block becomes clear; and this verdict is
expected only in 2014.
Meanwhile, if ConocoPhillips is awarded exploration rights for the six
deepwater blocks, it will get a total of nine years to carry out
exploration work, with five years as the primary exploration period
and two years each for the first and second extended exploration
periods, a Petrobangla official said separately.
ConocoPhillips will, however, not be able to export piped gas from
these deepwater blocks, but it will be able to export the gas as LNG
if Petrobangla and any third-party domestic user refuses to lift the
gas, he said.
The price of gas sold from the blocks will be linked 100% to high
sulfur fuel oil prices, with the floor price set at $70/mt and ceiling
at $180/mt.
ConocoPhillips will be able to export oil after it has met local demand.
As of now, the Australian Santos-operated Sangu gas field is the
country's lone operational offshore gas field.
International oil companies have been awarded only 14 hydrocarbon
blocks -- both onshore and offshore -- since gas exploration began in
the country in late 1960s. But they now hold only eight blocks having
given up the rest.
According to experts, there are major gas reserves in the Bangladesh
territorial waters of the Bay of Bengal and this assessment has been
reconfirmed following huge discoveries by Myanmar and India in their
respective areas in the bay.
--Mohammad Azizur Rahman, newsdesk@platts.com
http://www.platts.com/RSSFeedDetailedNews/RSSFeed/Oil/7434840
------------------------------------
[Disclaimer: ALOCHONA Management is not liable for information contained in this message. The author takes full responsibility.]
To unsubscribe/subscribe, send request to alochona-owner@egroups.comYahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/alochona/
<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional
<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/alochona/join
(Yahoo! ID required)
<*> To change settings via email:
alochona-digest@yahoogroups.com
alochona-fullfeatured@yahoogroups.com
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
alochona-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/