US wants Bangladesh to let Chevron go

The US has finally requested the Energy Ministry to allow Chevron, the oil giant of the US, to quit Bangladesh's three major gas fields Bibiyana, Moulavibazar, and Jalalabal smoothly.
It also wants details about overall development of Chevron's wind-up process.
The US has sought support over much-talked-about Chevron's wind-up from Bangladesh by handing over the country's three gas fields soon.
It also requested the Energy Division to allow the US company Accelerate to enjoy tax holiday on some areas," a senior officials told the Daily Observer on Tuesday.
US Ambassador to Dhaka Marcia Stephens Bloom Bernicat made this request to State Minister for Power and Energy Nasrul Hamid during a courtesy call at his secretariat office last Monday.
"She has sought support for sales of Chevron assets here," State Minister Nasrul Hamid told some journalists without elaborating.
He said the Energy Ministry is now assessing the assets of these three major gas fields.
The gas fields contribute around 58 percent of the country's total gas production.   To strike the best deal with Chevron, the PMO has also directed Petrobangla to appoint an international consultancy firm to evaluate the value of assets in three gas fields.    
This will be Bangladesh's second largest gas fields purchase since the acquisition of five gas fields from another oil giant Shell by Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in 1975.     
The minister also expressed his concern about the proper handling of these three gas fields by another company.     
Chevron is likely to transfer the ownership of these major gas fields to ZhenHua Oil if the government refuses to obtain its share.
Both parties signed a preliminary deal for the transfer. Recently, Chevron Bangladesh president Kevin Lyon met the Petrobangla chairman and submitted a letter explaining the share transfer to ZhenHua Oil.
According to the sources, Chevron has already finalised the handover process in its own way, as per their decision, Chinese state-run company ZhenHua Oil reportedly visited gas fields to evaluate the gas flow in order to take over the gas fields.
The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) has already given the go-ahead to a proposal for acquiring US oil giant Chevron's assets in Bangladesh worth an estimated $1.5 billion.   
Chevron operates three gas fields in the country -- the Bibiyana, Jalalabad and Moulvibazar gas fields -- and sells its production to state-owned Petrobangla.
The three gas fields have a total production capacity of 1550.6 mmcfd out of the country's total gas production of 2669.9 mmcfd from 21 gas fields. 
Operating since 1998, the Bibiyana gas field has a remaining gas reserve of around 3500 bcf (billion cubic feet). The gas reservoirs in Jalalabad and Moulvibazar are insignificant compared to Bibiyana.
Petrobangla officials said the gas production from the three gas fields might start to deplete from 2018-2019. Chevron earlier proposed to maintain the production at the current scale in next two to three years.  
Several Petrobangla officials said the government should assess the existing gas reserve in these gas fields and offer a price as per the current international market price.   
"If the government takes over the gas fields from Chevron, state-run Bangladesh Gas Fields Company Limited (BGFCL), Sylhet Gas Fields Limited (SGFL) and Bapex will be able to operate the fields with their existing manpower and resources," a Petrobangla official said.        
Last year, Chevron proposed to install a compressor in order to increase the gas pressure in Bibiyana gas field.
The US firm also proposed to set up a wellhead compressor at Bibiyana and raise gas tariff by three percent annually under the model production-sharing contract. But Petrobangla rejected the proposal.
However, Chevron has increased its cost several times showing its development budget to the Energy Ministry which was opposed by the local experts.