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Pangaea offers Petrobangla 7.5pc discount on bulk gas purchases

By Sharier Khan
The initialling of the second round of biddings first production sharing contract will give Petrobangla the upper hand during negotiations for other contracts in the queue, officials said.
The contract Petrobangla initialled last Wednesday with Pangaea, a small U.S. company, for oil and gas exploration In Block 8 upheld the governmen -t’s model contract.
Other oil companies negotl -atlng contracts have already deviated from the model, mak -ing Petrobangla uneasy about signing agreements with them, the officials added.
“Pangaea has offered Petrobangla a 7.5 per cent discount on bulk gas purchases," said an official. "This means that if Pangaea discovers gas and develops wells in the block. Petrobangla would be able to purchase bulk gas at a discount
"All other oil companies currently negotiating with Petrobangla are unwilling to offer any bulk discount. Unocal, Tullow-Chevron-Texaco and Maersk offered only 1 per cent
discounts. Shell is totally reluctant to name any figure."
Pangaea did not seek any gas export options or a 5-year initial operation period like other oil companies, either, added the official.
Pangaea's contract also emphasised the role of a Bangladeshi oil service company for the first time. Industry Insiders said ZPP. a leading Chinese exploration company, will work with Pangaea as a technical partner. ZPP will operate through ZYOL Bangladesh Ltd., its local partner.
"We have always wanted foreign oil companies to bring in local technical partner Instead of Just local agents. That way. the cost of contract operations become cheaper and local expertise in the field develops." said an official. "We must encourage development of local oil and gas sector expertise for our long-term benefit.
"We are already acquainted with ZPP's operations. It previously worked for Cairn in the Halda operation and for BAPEX in the Saida operation. ZPP is very cost effective for
Bangladesh."
Although Block 8 is reportedly the country's largest prospective area, Pangaea was the only bidder. It proposed to conduct 800 kilometres of seismic surveys and drill an exploratory well in the first three years of operation.
"Although Pangaea has a very short track record. Petrobangla believes this contract will enrich the data on the block if Pangaea makes a little effort." said an official. There are strong chances of striking oil in this block, he added.
Meanwhile. Tullow-Chevron and Texaco, the three companies that agreed to a government brokered partnership late last month, should arrive in Dhaka Monday to resume negotiations on Block 9. the most prospective block in the second round of bidding. Petrobangla has asked Tullow to provide a full bank guarantee for its' work programme In this block.
Tullow-Chevron-Texaco had already been given huge con -cessions by Petrobangla. These companies were originally selected based on their proposal to drill 10 exploratory wells in three years. The government has agreed to lower that number to just three wells.
Officials from Petronas. Malaysia's national oil company. should arrive in Bangladesh on March 12 after a long break from the process due to lack of government interest
Petronas submitted proposals for Blocks 8. 9 and 1 1 along with the U.S. oil giant Mobil and BAPEX. a Bangladeshi company. The joint venture was asked once to strike a partner -ship with Tullow. which always received the government's preference with regards to Block 9 and 11. However, the govern -ment changed its mind, and Petronas dropped out of the picture for two years.
Industry insiders said there was a move to bring Petronas in Block 1 I and Block 8 (with Pangaea). Therefore. Petronas was once again interested in Bangladesh.