The Norwegian-US joint venture (JV) company TGS-Schlumberger is finally bagging the job of carrying out the non-exclusive multi-client seismic survey in offshore blocks in December nearly four years after getting selected.
"All is now set to ink a final deal with the TGS-Schlumberger after vetting from the law ministry," said a senior official at Petrobangla, a government-owned national oil company.
The JV company was selected for carrying out the survey twice following two separate competitive bidding rounds back in 2015.
The initial bidding in early 2015 had been cancelled and the subsequent bidding in late 2015 had been put on hold over the past three years and a half.
Later on April 24 last the cabinet committee on economic affairs in a meeting approved the awarding of the job to the JV.
This procrastination in awarding the job for carrying out the seismic survey has delayed launch of the much-needed offshore exploration.
Sources said the Norwegian seismic specialist TGS and the US oilfield service provider Schlumberger are currently working on such a seismic survey project in the Gulf of Mexico.
After being awarded the job, the JV company was found sceptical about performing its duty because of its bitter past experience, said the Petrobangla official.
To bring back TGS-Schlumberger's confidence, Petrobangla had to hold one-to-one discussion with around a dozen of international oil companies (IOCs) and get their feedback about the recently-adopted model production sharing contract (MPSC).
The IOCs include Chevron, Kris Energy, ONGC Videsh, Woodside, PTTEP, Posco, Exxon Mobil, BP, Gazprom, and Moeco.
Petrobangla would also have to announce a fresh bidding round at least for some offshore blocks within next several months, he added.
Sources said the TGS-Schlumberger JV had arranged a couple of dedicated ships to do the job back in 2015 immediately after the initial selection for carrying out the job.
But it had to cancel deals with shippers due to delay in awarding of the job.
The TGS-Schlumberger is expected to survey 22 offshore hydrocarbon blocks within the sovereign territory of Bangladesh.
The blocks cover 81,000-square kilometres with the depth ranging from 20 metres to 2,500 metres in the Bay.
On completion of the survey, the JV company will be able to sell the seismic data to the interested IOCs.
It will help the companies carry out basin evaluation, prospect generation and participation in the bidding for exploration.
The JV company will not receive payments for their work, to be done in two years, from Petrobangla as per the bidding terms.
It would be free to sell the seismic data to the interested IOCs for the next eight years.
The TGS-Schlumberger, however, would have to share the data and profits with Petrobangla.
Officials said Bangladesh had never carried out such a multi-client seismic survey in any offshore block.
It earlier floated multiple international tenders on exploration of oil and gas both onshore and offshore by IOCs.
The bid winners would conduct surveys in their respective blocks before initiating oil and gas exploration.
The country's offshore areas are now well-demarcated following the international court's verdicts on maritime disputes with neighbours.
