Chevron eager to settle asset transfer issue with Petrobangla

Chevron, the US oil giant, wants to sit with the Energy Ministry to settle its asset transfer issue with the Petrobangla for a lawful handover of three gas fields to Himalaya Energy.
On Sunday, Chevron's Country Chief Kevin Lyon met Petrobangla Chairman, Abul Mansur Md Faizullah, but the Chairman was unable to commit anything in this regard.
"During the meeting Chevron conveyed its position. But they (Chevron) are yet to get any decision from the Petrobangla for which Chevron may miss their mid-October target for closing the agreed US$2-billion sale of their natural gas assets in Bangladesh to a Chinese consortium, as Dhaka weighs the prospect of a counterbid," a senior official told the Daily Observer on Sunday.
The US oil gaint agreed in April to sell three Bangladesh gas fields to Himalaya Energy including Bibiyana, Jalalabad and Moulavi Bazar - having an average net daily output of 720 million cubic feet of gas and 3,000 barrels of condensate.
Chevron sells the entire output to Petrobangla under a Production Sharing Contract (PSC) and Petrobangla said, "It is illegal."
A decision on a potential counterbid was pending, said Petrobangla Chairman.
ZhenHua Oil and Chevron have been repeatedly communicating with the government and Petrobangla for the last few months.
Government sources said they were not aware of ZhenHua Oil's competing interest in the Chevron fields as Bangladesh is in the process of assessing the fields' reserves before placing a formal bid to buy the assets. Bangladesh has engaged global energy consultant Wood Mackenzie to do the job.
State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid earlier  told the media that the Bangladesh government had offered to purchase all the natural gas assets of US energy giant Chevron in Bangladesh.
"We're interested in buying the assets. It'll be a big opportunity for us to have the entire production of the three gas fields," Nasrul Hamid said.
Chevron produces 1,255mmcf of gas from Bibiyana, 270mmcf from Jalalabad and 50mmcf from Moulavibazar fields per day. The three fields could have 3 to 4 trillion cubic feet (TCF) of gas, according to Petrobangla estimates. As per the PSC, the government gets 60 to 77 per cent of free gas from three  gas fields.
"Chevron had planned to close the sale, part of non-core asset disposals, around mid-October, so they want to talk to the high ups of the government," an Energy Ministry source said.
"As per the production-sharing contract, Chevron has no right to transfer its shares without permission," said the official, who declined to be named as he was not authorized to speak to journalists.
"They (Chevron) never officially informed us about the deal with a Chinese company. We came to know only from the media," he added.