New Delhi: Burma has refused to stop exploration of gas from the disputed waters in the Bay of Bengal after a four-day standoff with neighbouring Bangladesh over disputed waters, the state-owned Television said on Thursday.
Burma said Bangladesh had made a 'mistaken and unlawfully' demand to stop drilling of oil from the AD-7 block in the Bay of Bengal, claiming that the test drilling site was in its territorial waters.
"So Myanmar [Burma] rejected the mistakenly-made demand of Bangladesh," Burma's military junta said in the statement published by its mouthpiece New Light of Myanmar newspaper on Friday.
"Moreover, in order to protect the interests of the country in line with international laws, Myanmar [Burma] will continue to do the work in Block No. AD-7 till its completion, it is learnt," the statement added.
The Burmese military junta in the statement said, it had given the right to carry out exploration work in the offshore block AD-7 to Daewoo International Corporation in 2005. Daewoo in 2007 began exploration and started test drilling in September 2008.
The junta also stated that it had sent its warships to the Bay of Bengal to lend support to the work by Daewoo as agreed between the company and the government.
The statement came following a bilateral meeting between a Bangladesh delegation led by foreign Secretary Tuohid Hossain and Burmese officials in Nay Pyi Taw on Thursday.
The two countries have long nursed a dispute over its maritime boundaries but things came to a head on Sunday when Bangladesh Foreign Advisor summoned the Burmese ambassador to the country to protest the ongoing test drilling work in the Bay of Bengal, about 50 kilometers south of Bangladesh's Saint Martin Island.
Bangladesh immediately despatched four warships to the area and warned it would take "all possible measures" to protect its sovereignty.
On Wednesday, reports citing Bangladesh's naval sources said, Burma had withdrawn its two warships from the disputed waters. But the information could not be independently verified.
The Burmese envoy to Bangladesh Phe Thann Oo, who flew back to Nay Pyi Taw to join the talks, earlier said gas explorations were conducted "Well within our [Burma's] economic zones."
