Tullow Announces Update on Lalmai

Tullow Oil has announced that due to difficulties during the logging program at its Lalmai-3 exploration well in Block-9 in Bangladesh, the company has not yet found the presence of commercial gas.
Tullow Bangladesh Limited, (30%), operates Block 9 with co-venturers Niko Exploration (Block 9) Limited, a subsidiary of Niko Resources (60%), and Bangladesh Petroleum Exploration and Production Company Limited (10%).
“The wireline logs have identified potential gas-bearing sands in a number of zones between 2200-2800 meters, however it has not been possible to complete the logging program due to hole conditions,” Tullow said.
Subject to co-venturer approval, Tullow said it will shortly begin testing these potential gas zones, including production testing without a rig. This will allow the rig to be moved to Bangora, the third well in Tullow's three well exploration program for Block 9. Production test results for Lalmai-3 are expected in three to four weeks time.
Brian O'Cathain, Tullow's General Manager of International Operations, said: While these results are encouraging, due to the difficulties encountered during the logging program, we have not yet demonstrated the presence of commercial gas at this location. This will only be confirmed by a positive result from the planned production test.
Lalmai-3 exploration well in Block 9 of the country was spudded on March 8 and reached its proposed total depth of 2,800m on April 25.


BPC Bid to Realize Dues

The state-owned Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation has taken a move to realize its thousand crores of takas, remaining outstanding to the three oil marketing companies -- Padma, Meghna and Jamuna. “We will realize the huge amount in phases from the month of May and have asked the three oil marketing companies to adjust the dues,” a top official of the corporation said.
The corporation has asked the oil companies to pay Tk 200 crore from the outstanding amount every month in addition to the regular dues. “We issued notice to Padma to pay Tk 100 crore and Jamuna and Meghna to pay Tk 50 crore each every month in addition to their current dues,” the corporation official said.


Reshuffle in BPC Oil Companies

The state-run Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) has recently made a major reshuffle. Five of its high officials, including the general managers of all the three oil marketing companies, were transferred.
The BPC Chairman issued the transfer orders at the directive of the Energy Ministry. The order made Jamuna Oil General Manager Mohammed Ali an officer on special duty. Padma Oil General Manager Ahmed Jamal Khan Chowdhury was transferred to Jamuna as General Manager. Meghna Oil General Manager Masudur Rahman was transferred to Padma as General Manager and Sirajul Islam Chowdhury, General Manager (accounts) of the BPC, was transferred to Meghna as General Manager.
The authorities also transferred MH Khan, Deputy General Manager (Audit) of the Eastern Refinery Limited as General Manager (Accounts) of the BPC.


Barapukuria: Management Deal Signed

Barapukuria Coal Mining Co Ltd (BCMCL) has recently signed the management and production services contract with the Chinese Consortium of Shangdong Ludi-Geo Mineral Co Ltd and Xinwen Mining Group Co Ltd. The signing ceremony was held Petro Center in the capital.
It is a five-year contract and Shangdong Ludi being the lowest bidder got the contract which is Tk 1.2 billion less than that of the second lowest bidder.
Present on the occasion were Chinese Ambassador Chai Xi, Petrobangla Chairman SR Osmani, Hosaf Group Chairman Moazzam Hossain, Managing Director of BCMCL Golam Mustafa, Chinese Embassy's Commercial Counselor Zhu Jin Fun, Shandong Board Chairman Song Shiming and Shandong government's Secretary General Zhang Chaunting.


Fire at B'baria Gas Field

A fire broke out at a gas-production plant in a gas-field in Brahmanbaria district on April 29, but the blaze could be contained within half an hour. The quick action by fire fighters set at rest a panic among people around the gas mine and up to the district town, witnesses said. Gas supply to the consumers in the district and the adjoining areas remained snapped for about half an hour following the fire incident.
According to sources, a coil of a heater of the gas production plant caught fire suddenly at about 4:30pm, sending a wave of panic in the neighborhood. A local fire fighting unit with the help of the fire fighters of the gas-field extinguished the fire after half an hour's effort.


IOC Zeroes in on Firm in Thailand

Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) has submitted an expression of interest to acquire the marketing assets of a mid-size oil company in Thailand. The move would give IOC access to about 80-90 retail stations in Thailand, with volumes close to half a million tons, company executives said.
The IOC board recently cleared the decision. The company is also actively scouting for acquisition possibilities in Singapore and Indonesia, apart from forays planned in Pakistan and Bangladesh.
India's only Fortune 500 company was also assessing medium-sized exploration and production firms in Britain, Canada and Australia, executives said.


NEPC Distributes Relief

The NEPC Consortium Power Limited and the Junior Chamber International (West Chapter) Bangladesh distributed relief in tornado-ravaged areas of Netrakona and Mymensingh.
A joint team of the NEPC and the JCI offered cash assistance apart from material help to the hospitals of the two districts aiming at giving treatment to the patients, injured in a tornado.
They offered aid in the form of cash money and dry food including rice, pulses, powdered milk and materials for installing tubewells and sanitary latrines to help victims evade waterborne diseases in the post-disaster period in the tornado-hit villages of Trimohoni, Chaparkola, Kanchonpur, Bhattagram and Dhalpur.
The joint team of the NEPC, which runs a 110-MW power plant at Haripur, and the JCI, an affiliate of the Junior Chamber Inc, offered cash assistance and food including milk to the Mymensingh Medical College Hospital and the Netrakona Sadar Hospital, where a large number of people were getting treatment with tornado injuries.


Mindset Bars Power Sector Development: Iqbal

Neither the resource constraints nor the policy lacking are hindering the power sector development, State Minister for Power Iqbal Hassan Mahmood said adding, “It is the mindset that has been causing a major damage to it.”
“So you all have to change the traditional mindset and engage yourself with full dedication in duties as per the job descriptions,” he told a seminar on Stakeholders Awareness for Strategic Planning and Management of Electricity in the Country held recently.
The function was also addressed, among others, by Chairman of Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) Syed Abdul Mayeed, UNESCAP Representative Rikke Munk and Director, Power Cell BD Rahmatullah.
Iqbal Mahmood said the days are gone where the salary was ensured without any works. Now time has come to show your performances and take the salary accordingly. “Don't think you have been given job for lifetime,” he reminded the power sector people adding that if you could not perform your duty well, none could protect you from losing your job.
The state minister said the present government has taken much of the initiatives to put the power sector in the track, but the achievement was not so satisfactory compared to the money and labor given to it. I don't want to hear the lame excuses, an apparent annoyed minister said. “We always agree that we have limitations. But now I think the major limitation comes from our minds, which are full of age old ideas and lack in vision and patriotism,” he said, urging the concerned people to perform duties with zeal and patriotism.


OPEC to Examine Price Band

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) will likely consider the validity of its current preferred price band, which ranges between 22 and 28 dollars a barrel, near the end of May, said Qatari Energy Minister Abdullah al-Attiya.
But Al-Attiya, speaking at an international oil conference, stressed that no official proposal had been forwarded to change the band. “On the 21st of May you will have a chance to see what is going on,” he said. “What the new band will be -- it's still not very clear to me.”
OPEC ministers are to attend a forum in Amsterdam on May 21 bringing together producers and consumers of oil. The possibility that the band, determined by the average price of seven grades of crude, might be revised was raised by OPEC President and Indonesian Oil Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro. He said the band could be expanded by about four dollars to take account of the sliding dollar.
The upper reach of the band has been surpassed for months. But OPEC maintains that the spurt in prices reflects speculation and geopolitical tension rather than a shortage of oil on the market.


Halliburton to Settle Deepwater Claims

Halliburton Co has agreed to settle outstanding claims related to a deepwater project in Brazil and plans to take more losses on the project in the first quarter. The Houston company said its KBR engineering and construction subsidiary has agreed to amend existing agreements with project owner Petroleo Brasileiro SA regarding the Barracuda-Caratinga project, and release both parties from all existing claims, including pending arbitration proceedings in New York.
Halliburton is developing a deepwater off-shore and production complex for state oil company Petrobras. The project has been in dispute after cost revisions delayed a $2.5 billion order for two offshore oil rigs from Petrobras.
Petrobras agreed last year to pay $59 million of disputed claims and to take an additional $375 million of claims to arbitration in New York.
The agreement in principle announced recently is subject to project lender approval and final agreement.