Bangladesh has invited some of the world's leading state-owned gas giants to help explore its insurgency-hit south-eastern hill tracts region, an official said Tuesday. The Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) region makes up one-tenth of the South Asian country's landmass but has been largely left unexplored due to a decades-long insurgency involving mainly Buddhist tribal groups.
Following the signing of a peace deal in 1997, the central government is now moving in to explore for gas, said Murtaza Ahmed Faruq Chisti, head of state-owned exploration company, Bapex. "We are currently holding talks with Gazprom to see if they can join us in a joint exploration work in the CHT," he told AFP. "We have also invited Sinopec and CNOOC of China, PTTEP of Thailand, Petronas of Malaysia and ONGC of India to talk on the issue," he said.
"We want to sign deals as quickly as possible to start exploring for gas in this potential energy-rich region," he said, adding that Anglo-Dutch energy giant Shell had done preliminary explorations in the region decades ago. The move comes as Bangladesh has been struggling with an acute energy crisis with domestic demand far outstripping supply amid rapid economic growth.
Last year three offshore gas blocks were awarded to oil giants ConocoPhillips and Irish Tullow, but the government could not strike final deals due to ownership disputes with India and Myanmar. Bangladesh now faces a 20 percent shortfall in daily gas supply and has stopped supplying gas to energy-guzzling state fertiliser plants and new factories.
Despite the formal treaty and the withdrawal of most troops last year, low-intensity unrest has continued as tribal groups demand key clauses of the deal be implemented, including dismantling settlers' villages and army camps.
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