ConocoPhillips has sought exploration rights for six deepwater gas blocks in the Bay of Bengal, for which it was selected as the best bidder in 2008 but that were not awarded, as Bangladesh was in the midst of boundary disputes with neighbours Myanmar and India, Petrobangla Chairman Hussain Monsur said recently, according to a Platts, a web portal of energy data and news, report.
ConocoPhillips sent a letter last week to Petrobangla asking for the exploration rights after Bangladesh recently won a favorable verdict against Myanmar from an international tribunal, Monsur said.
Of the six deep water blocks ConocoPhillips is now eyeing, four blocks — –DS-08-12; DS-08-16; DS-08-17 and DS-08-21 — are disputed with Myanmar and two—DS-08-15; DS-08-20 — with India.
State-owned Petrobangla is, however, not yet to sure whether the ruling clears the disputed blocks with Myanmar as it has not received an official copy of the verdict, Petrobangla’s director for production sharing contracts Muhammad Imaduddin said.
“We have not yet confirmed whether the full area of the four disputed blocks with Myanmar is clear, following the ITLOS [International Tribunal for the Law
