Petrobangla Extends Offshore Oil and Gas Bidding Deadline In Bay of Bengal
The deadline for submitting bids for offshore oil and gas exploration and development has been extended. Petrobangla recently announced that the new deadline is March 31, 2027, replacing the previous deadline of November 30 this year.
According to Petrobangla, the deadline was extended following recent discussions with several reputed international oil companies (IOCs) and their requests. The authorities expect that making data packages more accessible will encourage more companies to participate in the bidding round.
On May 24, an international tender was invited for oil and gas exploration and extraction in 15 deep-sea blocks and 11 shallow-sea blocks. The tender document costs $7,000. Companies can submit bids for specific blocks or for the entire offshore area. So far, three companies, including Turkish Petroleum and China National Offshore Oil Corporation, have purchased tender documents.
The bidding round launched in March 2024 was cancelled for various reasons, including the political situation. The interim government later formed a committee to identify the reasons. Based on the committee’s recommendations, pipeline costs were addressed, the WPPPF rate was reduced from 5 percent to 1.5 percent, and gas prices were raised from 10 percent of Brent crude prices to 11 percent for deep-sea blocks and 10.5 percent for shallow-sea blocks.
Following the resolution of maritime boundary disputes with Myanmar and India in 2012 and 2014, Bangladesh established its rights over more than 118,813 square kilometres of maritime territory. However, the country has yet to achieve success in exploring oil and gas in this promising offshore area. Meanwhile, Myanmar has been extracting gas from its adjacent maritime area for years.
According to Petrobangla, daily gas demand stands at 4,000 million cubic feet, while supply is only 2,600 million cubic feet, leaving a shortfall of around 1,400 million cubic feet. Domestic gas production, which once reached 2,800 million cubic feet per day, has now fallen to 1,620 million cubic feet.
Energy experts attribute the decline primarily to successive governments’ reliance on foreign energy instead of exploring the country’s own resources.
