& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

Oil and gas exploration

Govt hopes to sign PSCs for 15 blocks by Dec 16

By Staff Correspondent
Some 60 international oil and gas exploration companies have expressed their interest in participating in the bidding for hydrocarbon exploration in 15 blocks of Bangladesh. Energy Minister Noor Uddin Khan said yesterday.
The government expects that production sharing contracts (PSCs) for all these blocks would be signed by December 16 next.
Till now different foreign oil and gas companies have signed five PSCs with the government and it is expected that there will be an investment of more than 500 million US dollars under these five agreements very soon, the minister said.
Addressing a press briefing on the outcome of the recently concluded promotional seminars on the prospect of hydro-earbon exploration in Bangladesh, the minister said, "our special emphasis is on faster implementation of deci-
An eight-member government delegation led by Energy Secretary Toufiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury held two rounds of promotional seminars in London and Houston throughout March 24 to April 3. Some 30 companies attended the seminar in London and 30 others attended in Houston.
The press briefing was attended, among others, by experts of Petrobangla and officials of the Energy Ministry.
According to the Energy Secretary. the bidding for the 15 blocks were opened on March 15 and it would close on July 15. "After that, we will complete review of the bidding documents within one month and, finish all negotiations and procedures with the participants to sign PSCs by December 16," the Energy Secretary said.
In the past, signing of PSCs took more than two years of negotiations, he noted. "But this time, we have developed the ex-
pertise. We now have a model PSC and Gas Purchase Sales Agreement and other experience to make all these tasks easy and smooth."
The minister, however, added "but we are not sure whether PSCs for all the 15 blocks will be signed under this bidding," "because the companies are more interested about the blocks in the south-eastern belt up the Jamuna river than the blocks in the south-western blocks. We think there will be heavy competition for blocks like 9 and 10 while there might not be any bidding for certain blocks."
He further said, "besides, we will have to decide about keeping some blocks for ourselves. The exploration wing of Petrobangla, BAPEX, has discovered four wells in recent times despite its fund and equipment shortage. We intend to keep its trend going."