Bangladesh has won a case against Canadian multinational petroleum and gas company NIKO over the Tengratila gas field explosion. The decision was confirmed by an international investment dispute resolution forum, the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (IXID).
Bangladesh will get compensation from NIKO for one billion dollars. IXID has, however, requested Bangladesh to send a complete report evaluating the harm to health, the climate, and the economy. On the whole, we'll have to wait to estimate the amount of disruption by the middle of next year.
The announcement was made by State Minister for Power, Energy, and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid on May 3, Sunday afternoon at a virtual media conference in his apartment. He said, "Bangladesh has won the case for the explosion at the Tengratila gas field against the Canadian multinational oil and gas company NIKO." The International Criminal Court (ICC) ruled that NIKO should be liable for it. IXID handed down the judgment on 26 February. The decision was to be revealed at a press conference in early March, however, but was delayed due to the situation in Covid-19.
International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) ruled that the explosion was triggered by NIKO's inability to perform its operations efficiently and keep pace with international standards in the petroleum industry. In the press conference, the state minister further claimed that the amount of loss estimated by the international consulting firm on March 25, 2016 was submitted to IXID in 2016. The IXID verdict said the explosion was due to negligence and misconduct on the part of NIKO. NIKO will have to take on the blame as a result. Bangladesh has to be compensated. A retrial was set to finalize the claims next September. Owing to the situation of Corona will push it back.
Barrister Moin Gani, the legal lawyer, said BAPEX was entitled to receive $117 million and $698 million from Petrobangla, which means more than $1 billion as compensation. Besides this, the court said that the harm to health and damage to the environment and the climate should be measured and submitted to the court. This will heighten the amount of damage more. He added, 'There was another hearing scheduled for September next. But because of Corona, this won't be possible now. We need to wait for the situation to get better as a result. Compensation may need time to be fixed by the middle of next year. International consulting firms are working on this. We will re-evaluate and report with them.
NIKO meanwhile went bankrupt. Now we need to recover it with NIKO's property in the Bangura Block-9 gas field. "They had to pay us for this," he said. They just don't have to pay now. This has sent a beautiful message to the whole world once again. That also needs to be taken into consideration. Senior Secretary of the Department of Energy Anisur Rahman, Chairman of Petrobangla ABM Abdul Fattah were also present at the time. It may be stated that on 26 February 2003 BAPEX signed an agreement with NIKO to develop the field of Tengratila gas in Chhatak, Sunamganj. The first explosion took place on 6 January 2005 as a gas well was dug. Another explosion occurred, when they attempted to dig again. That burns a lot of the mined coal. Local biodiversity is becoming extinct. For this, Petrobangla demanded compensation of BDT 747 crore from NIKO, which NIKO refused to pay. Petrobangla filed a case against NIKO in a local lower court in 2006 seeking compensation.
