Three international oil companies have expressed interest in two deepwater and one shallow-water blocks in the Bay of Bengal offered in a bidding round in Bangladesh.
According to press reports, Statoil ASA, Daewoo, and KrisEnergy Ltd. of Singapore filed expressions of interest by an Oct. 19 deadline.
State-owned Bangladesh Oil, Gas, and Mineral Corp. (Petrobangla) is offering deepwater Blocks DS-10 and DS-11 and shallow-water block SS-10 under terms to be negotiated.
Of the companies reported to have submitted expressions of interest, only KrisEnergy has operations in the country.
It operates onshore Block 9 under a production sharing contract. It holds a 30% interest in the block with partners Niko Exploration (Block 9) Ltd., 60%, and Bangladesh Petroleum Exploration & Production Co. Ltd., 10%.
The block includes Bangora field, recently producing 93.5 MMcfd of natural gas and 276 b/d of condensate.
Total Bangladeshi production is 2.7 bcfd of gas and 12,300 b/d of condensate.
