Dhaka: Bangladesh has not yet signed with two international oil companies on production sharing contracts to explore for gas in the Bay of Bengal, as the offshore gas blocks are still under dispute with Burma and India, according to an official report.

The two foreign companies, ConocoPhillips and Tullow, have pledged to invest a total of USD 160.5 million in their bids for hydrocarbon exploration in the three approved offshore blocks in the Bay of Bengal.

ConocoPhillips pledged to invest USD 110.66 million and offered a bank guarantee of the same amount for the two blocks it was approved for, while Tullow committed to invest USD 49.85 million and offered a bank guarantee of USD 33.9 million.

In August 2009, Bangladesh stamped its seal of approval to lease out two deep-water offshore gas blocks, DS-08-10 and DS-08-11, to ConocoPhillips, and one shallow water block, SS-08-05, to Tullow.

All three blocks, however, were subsequently disputed as neighbouring India and Burma raised objections, claiming that some areas of these blocks overlapped with their own territory.

Bangladesh has not signed any production sharing contracts with the US-based ConocoPhillips or the Irish Tullow since Burma and India raised their objections.

Both of the foreign hydrocarbon firms intended to sign production sharing contracts for the dispute-free areas of the blocks with the state-owned Petrobangla.

"We are waiting on the government decision for signing PSCs with ConocoPhillips and Tullow," Petrobangla director for the production sharing contract, Muhammad Imaduddin, told the FE on Sunday.

"We are ready to sign the PSCs as soon as we get the signal from the government," he added.

The bidding for offshore gas blocks was launched during the previous caretaker government's term in February 2008.

Bangladesh is now reeling under an acute gas crisis, with their supply hovering around 2,000 million cubic feet daily, against a daily demand for over 2,500 million cubic feet.