Bangladesh has launched international bidding for 26 offshore oil and gas blocks in the Bay of Bengal under revised production-sharing terms aimed at attracting foreign investors and boosting domestic energy exploration.
Bangladesh on Saturday formally launched an international bidding round for offshore oil and gas exploration across 26 blocks in the Bay of Bengal under a revised production-sharing framework aimed at drawing major global energy firms.
The bidding notice under the Bangladesh Offshore Model Production Sharing Contract 2026 was scheduled to be published today on official websites and in newspapers, according to officials from the Energy and Mineral Resources Division and Petrobangla.
The round includes 11 shallow-sea blocks and 15 deep-sea blocks. Authorities hope revised fiscal incentives, updated pricing mechanisms, flexible exploration terms and gas export provisions will help attract investors after previous offshore bidding rounds failed to generate sufficient interest.
Companies will be able to purchase bid documents from June 1 and submit tenders until November 30, giving them six months to review geological data and prepare proposals.
Officials said production periods have been fixed at 25 years for gas fields and 20 years for oil fields, with extensions of up to 10 additional years allowed.
The Energy and Mineral Resources Division has also arranged a “Meet the Press” briefing at 2:30 pm today to explain the bidding structure.
Hayat Md Feroze, joint secretary and chief of the development wing of the Energy Division, said all preparations had been completed for launching the offshore bidding process.
“Tender notices will be available on the website from Sunday morning,” he told yesterday.
According to the tender notice, a basic information package containing geological data, block maps and related materials will be available from June 1 for $100.
The full promotional package, including seismic sections, gravity data, magnetic data and geological maps, will cost $7,000.
Petrobangla officials indicated that the bid submission deadline could be extended if the initial six-month period fails to attract an adequate response from international energy companies.
Officials said the Bangladesh Offshore Model Production Sharing Contract 2026 had been substantially revised to improve competitiveness with regional energy producers as Bangladesh faces rising domestic demand and declining gas reserves.
The new framework introduces Brent-linked gas pricing, pipeline tariff mechanisms, full repatriation of profits, tax exemptions, export rights for contractors and political risk protection clauses. The government has also removed the signature bonus requirement to reduce upfront investment costs.
Engineer Md Shoaib, director of the Production Sharing Contract unit at Petrobangla, said the revised terms were intended to strengthen investor confidence and align the framework with international standards.
He added that the government had accelerated preparation of the framework as part of a broader exploration plan to increase domestic energy production.
The bidding documents set strict eligibility conditions for participating companies.
For shallow-sea blocks, at least one member of a bidding consortium must operate offshore acreage with a minimum daily production capacity of 5,000 barrels of oil or 75 million cubic feet of gas.
For deep-sea blocks, the requirement increases to 10,000 barrels of oil or 100 million cubic feet of gas per day.
Companies must also show at least one exploration and production experience outside their home country.
