Bangladesh has become a place rife with disagreements and heated arguments over PSC accord signed between GOB & Conocophillips; actually the controversy is gonna agitate the whole country upside down. National Committee on Protection of Oil, Gas and Mineral Resources, Power and Ports (NCPOGMPP) has been vehemently protesting the deal stating it has shamelessly compromised with Bangladesh’s interest; while GOB and a pool of energy experts countered that critics misinterpreted some of the clauses and the contract complies the international standard in all aspect. Later group also justified that risk/reward ratio should be higher for the contractor, as there is no assurance that hydrocarbon will be discovered after investing huge sum of money.

Reserve quantity can never be fully known until the field has been fully produced. The estimates are based on Geological survey & data analysis, Seismic Exploration, Magnetometers, Gravimeters, use of state-of-the-art technologies like 2-D/3-D/4-D Seismic Imaging, Exploratory wells, Logging etc. Commercially recoverable Hydrocarbon reserve is expressed in three categories: Probable, Proven & Possible reserves.

Proven Reserves are where production has already commenced, and so the estimates are very reliable, based on observable deposits of sample product. For accounting, these are booked as assets at a high probability rate, up to 100%. Industry specialists refer to this as 1P or P90 (i.e., having a 90% certainty of being produced).

Probable Reserves are based on a large number of samples, and so the estimates are fairly reliable. For accounting, these probable reserves are typically booked at 40-70%. Industry specialists refer to them as 2P or P50 (i.e., having a 50% certainty of being produced).

Possible Reserves are based on geophysical survey and data analysis. The probability of existence for accounting