Dhaka: Two foreign firms - Conoco Philips and Tullow Bangladesh - will explore for gas in the deep sea in Bangladesh near disputed waters between Burma and Bangladesh.
According to an official source, the US company Conoco Philips will be allowed to explore gas and oil from blocks No. 10 and 11 while Tullow Bangladesh will explore block No. 5
Blocks 5, 10, and 11 are close to the disputed waters but Bangladesh authorities are not allowing the companies to explore for gas in the disputed areas.
A senior officer of Bangladesh said that the two companies can not conduct exploration in the disputed areas of the selected blocks, adding that, "We are in talks with our neighbors for resolving the dispute concerning the areas of blocks selected for Conoco Philips and Tullow Bangladesh."
Tullow submitted its bid for the shallow sea block 5 that is partially claimed by India. The committee selected Conoco's bid to explore blocks 10, 11, 12 15, 16,17, 20, and 21.
A source said that some of the blocks selected for the Conoco overlap with those claimed by India and Burma. As a result, the government may select certain areas of the blocks for exploration that are not controversial.
Although neighboring Burma and India have taken steps to explore potential hydrocarbon reserves in the Bay of Bengal, Bangladesh has failed to take commensurate measures due to indecision and neglect of the all-important issue of demarcating the maritime boundary.
India and Burma's offshore gas blocks overlap an area of five thousand square kilometers on the eastern edge of the Bangladesh deep-sea zone, said the source.
Bangladesh has so far not taken any effective measure to explore gas in the offshore blocks. India and Burma have already done so and found large deposits.
A government committee selected the companies after evaluating the technical offers submitted by nine companies from across the world in the third round of offshore exploration bidding in Bangladesh. Petrobangla was awarded six bids for offshore exploration in the first round of bidding.
