To tackle the fuel crisis, the government has taken an initiative to search for gas at sea. Surveys also began to find out gas reserves under water. Petrobangla called tenders for multi-client survey in 2015 but has not struck an agreement as yet.
Usually, investors want 2nd tier seismological reports before buying international tenders. Therefore, a multi-client survey is done before calling tenders which give an idea about possible reserves.
Based on the information, investors carry out a third tier survey and dig wells.
In the 2015 and 2016 calls for survey, a multi-national called Schlumberger expressed desire but despite the passing of three years, Petrobangla could not sign an agreement with them.
Reportedly, the files were sent back from the ministry of energy on one pretext or the other.
On May 7 last year, Schlumberger were given a letter and their representative invited to sign an agreement but that did not materialize in the end.
A Petrobangla official says: “A draft of the agreement has been sent in December last giving space to every little detail to facilitate a swift approval from the ministry but there has not been any progress as yet.”
An energy department official says: “No one has an accurate account of the oil-gas reserved in our oceans and, therefore, we are not getting any interest from big companies. In this regard, multi-client survey is essential.”
Energy specialist Shamsul Alam says: “If we could enter into an agreement, there would not be any need for LNG imports. And if LNG was not imported there wouldn’t be any need to raise gas and power prices.”
At present, 2,700 million cubic feet of gas is raised from land against a country demand of 3,700 million cubic feet. Therefore, there is a deficit of 1,000 million Cubic feet.