Chinese consortium to buy Chevron’s Bangladesh oil fields

Dhaka, April 25 (IANS) US oil giant Chevron Corporation has announced that its subsidiary, Chevron Global Ventures Ltd., has entered into an agreement to sell the shares of its subsidiaries in Bangladesh to a Chinese consortium, a media report said.

The Chinese consortium is Himalaya Energy, owned by China ZhenHua Oil Co and CNIC Corporation Ltd. The financial deal has not been disclosed, the Daily Star reported.

Chevron Bangladesh operates Block 12 (Bibiyana Field) and Blocks 13 and 14 (Jalalabad and Moulvibazar fields). The closing of the transaction is subject to the satisfaction of certain closing conditions.

Chevron is currently responsible for more than half of Bangladesh’s daily gas production. Whereas Bangladesh daily produces around 2,600 million feet per day (mmcfd) gas, Chevron provides more than 1,400 mmcfd from these three fields. Of them, the Bibiyana field provides more than 1,100 mmcfd.

Besides, Chevron also daily produces around 9,000 tonnes of condensate – a liquid fuel by-product found in some gas fields. The remaining gas fields of the country produce around 1,500 tonnes of condensate.

Chevron’s earlier operations — that includes discovery of the massive Bibiyana field in the late nineties — were spearheaded by Unocal, which was globally acquired by Chevron in 2005. The company invested around $3 billion, while it currently has 538 employees.

Chevron operates under two Production Sharing Contracts (PSC) under which it gets a maximum of $3 dollars for per thousand cubic metres of gas — while Bangladesh gets a proportionally bigger chunk of gas as free share — making the deals very profitable for the country.

Chevron announced selling its assets in different countries — including Bangladesh — last year, due to the oil price slump. Since Chevron decided to sell its Bangladesh asset, the government had made an offer that Chevron did not accept. Since then Chevron was negotiating with Chinese company ZhenHua Oil, the Daily Star reported.

Chevron Corporation is one of the world’s leading integrated energy companies. Through its subsidiaries that conduct business worldwide, the company is involved in virtually every facet of the energy industry.

Chevron (previously Unocal) introduced three-dimensional seismic survey in Bangladesh for the first time in the late nineties while surveying the Bibiyana field area.