The Bangladesh Petroleum Exploration and Production Company (Bapex) yesterday signed a binding offer agreement with Australian firm Santos to carry out offshore drilling in the Magnama structure in the Bay of Bengal.
This agreement is an initial contract covering some major points of the main deal, which will ne ed vetting from the Energy and Mineral Resources Division, Petrobangla, and the law ministry. Bapex managing director Md Atiquzzaman said that the signing of the main agreement for the joint venture between Bapex and Santos is in the pipeline. “Some bureaucratic processes are needed to quicken the process and start drilling by next winter (January next year). Hence, we have signed this agreement,” he added. According to the deal, Santos would have 51 per cent stake in the joint venture while Bapex would have 49 per cent, and the project would be financed by the government exchequer or the Gas Development Fund. Mohammad Ali, the company secretary of Bapex, said the cost of drilling in the Magnama structure hasn’t been fixed yet. “It will be around $26 million,” he said.