Chevron Corporation wants to explore for oil and gas exploration in the deep sea

oil and gas exploration My News Bangladesh

America’s second-largest company, Chevron Corporation, has expressed interest in oil and gas exploration in the deep seas of the country. Earlier, Exxon Mobil, America’s largest company in the energy sector, made two consecutive proposals for deep sea drilling. The US institution is still lobbying on that proposal.

Chevron has proposed seeking approval for oil and gas exploration in various areas, including the Myanmar border area in the deep sea of Bangladesh. State Minister for Energy Nasrul Hamid told reporters, ‘After Exxon Mobil, another US company is interested in working in the deep sea. I have received a written proposal for this. Apart from this, many companies are showing interest in working in our region. ‘

Although many companies are interested in oil and gas exploration in the deep sea, the state minister did not say more about any other company.

Meanwhile, in response to a question, Chevron Bangladesh spokesperson Sheikh Zahidur Rahman did not confirm anything about this proposal to The Independent. He said, ‘Chevron Bangladesh has been working in Bangladesh for many years to meet Bangladesh’s gas demand as much as possible. Chevron is working to invest more in gas exploration in Bangladesh. ‘

Sources in the Ministry of Energy said that the government may not take any decision on the proposals of Chevron and Exxon Mobil for the time being. Because the national election is ahead. There are various discussions about Bangladesh-US relations ahead of the elections. So it is difficult to take any decision on this sensitive issue at the moment.

Policymakers say a file was sent to the Prime Minister’s Office several days ago to set up a high-level advisory committee on Exxon Mobil’s proposal. No decision has been made in that regard yet.

Last March, Exxon Mobil said in a proposal that it wants to work on the simultaneous allocation of 15 blocks in the country’s deep sea. Later, they revised the proposal and stated it more clearly.

Exxon Mobil is interested in investing 30 billion dollars, or about 300 million takas, in oil and gas exploration in the Bay of Bengal. After the settlement of maritime boundary disputes with Myanmar in 2012 and India in 2014, Bangladesh’s ownership of the sea was established. Later, India and Myanmar discovered gas in their territorial waters. But it is not known for sure how much gas there is in the seas of Bangladesh.

Recently, the foreign oil company Christ Energy gave data at an event and said that Bangladesh’s sea area is more promising than India’s and Myanmar’s. The geological structure here indicates the possibility of getting gas. Myanmar discovered the ‘Suway’ gas field in Bangladesh’s waters several years ago. There are more than 5 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of gas reserves. The two blocks of Bangladesh on the same border are SS-11 and DS-12. The international oil company Santosh left Bangladesh after doing some work in the SS-11 block. On the other hand, the Korean company Posco Daiyu Corporation departed from Bangladesh by doing DS-12 and seismic survey work.

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