Bangladesh has awarded three offshore exploration blocks to American and Irish companies to search for oil and gas in the disputed waters of the Bay of Bengal, an official said Tuesday. The country's highest cabinet committee on economic affairs awarded two blocks to the US energy giant ConocoPhillips and another to Irish company Tullow, energy secretary Mohammad Mohsin told AFP.
The government granted the blocks despite ownership claims on some of the territories by neighbouring India and Myanmar, he said. "We will tell the companies not to explore in the disputed areas until it is settled," he said. "The two companies will now sign agreements with the (state-run oil and gas company) Petrobangla and can start survey and other exploration activities from early next year," said Mohsin.
Bangladesh's last army-backed emergency government invited bids for offshore exploration in February last year after dividing its sea territory in the Bay of Bengal into 28 blocks. But Mohsin said the bidding was met with a poor response, as top oil companies opted out because of the conflict over the territories from India and Myanmar. A tense stand-off between Myanmar and Bangladesh flared in November last year when Myanmar escorted a South Korean gas exploration company into a disputed stretch of the Bay of Bengal.
Both countries deployed their navies to the waters, prompting high-level diplomatic contacts to prevent the situation escalating dangerously. Experts have forecast major reserves of gas in the Bangladesh part of the Bay of Bengal, after huge discoveries were made in the Myanmar and Indian areas of the bay. Bangladesh needs to urgently locate new sources of energy as the government forecasts the nation's current gas reserves will run out by 2014-15 at present consumption rates.
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