The offshore bidding round, launched on 24 May, offers exploration and development rights across 26 maritime blocks, comprising 15 deep-sea and 11 shallow-sea sectors. Engineer Md Shoaeb stated that bidding documents are priced at $7,000 per package, allowing interested firms to bid for specific blocks or wider offshore areas. To date, three major corporations, including Turkish Petroleum Corporation (TPAO) and China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC), have purchased tender documents.

This extension follows previous setbacks in Bangladesh’s maritime energy initiatives. A bidding round initiated in March 2024 saw seven international firms, including US energy giant ExxonMobil, purchase tender documents, with two purchasing seismic data. However, political instability and uncompetitive terms led companies to withhold final bids, forcing authorities to cancel the process.

Following the cancellation, the interim administration established an investigation committee to identify underlying obstacles. Based on the committee’s findings, revisions were introduced to the Model Production Sharing Contract (PSC) to improve financial viability for investors. Key adjustments included reducing pipeline construction overheads from deep sea to land and lowering the Workers’ Profit Participation Fund (WPPF) contribution from 5 per cent to 1.5 per cent. Furthermore, gas pricing was decoupled from fixed rates—previously set at $5.60 per MMBtu for shallow blocks and $7.25 for deep-sea blocks under the 2019 PSC—and linked to Brent crude benchmarks, offering 11 per cent for deep water and 10.5 per cent for shallow water.

Bangladesh established sovereign rights over 118,813 square kilometres of maritime territory following landmark international court rulings resolving disputes with Myanmar in 2012 and India in 2014. Despite neighbouring Myanmar successfully extracting gas from adjacent offshore blocks, successive administrations in Dhaka have struggled to convert Bangladesh’s maritime potential into operational energy production.

Historical attempts at offshore development yielded limited results. In 2008, US firm ConocoPhillips signed agreements for deep-sea blocks DS-10 and DS-11 but exited in 2014 after requested price revisions were declined. Similarly, agreements signed with India’s ONGC Videsh Limited in 2012 for blocks SS-4 and SS-9 progressed slowly.

The deadline extension comes amidst a severe domestic energy squeeze. Daily natural gas production from onshore fields has dropped from a peak of 2,800 million cubic feet to approximately 1,620 million cubic feet. Prolonged stagnation in exploration, combined with a heavy reliance on imported liquefied natural gas, continues to strain the nation’s industrial output and foreign exchange reserves.