Int’l bidding in newly-gained Bay areas

Bangladesh hopes to invite international bidding this year to explore for gas in the maritime areas it gained after resolution of dispute with India, an official said on Tuesday.
State-owned Petrobangla chairman Dr. Hussain Monsur said that the government will consult energy experts on the possibility of international bidding in the Bay of Bengal this year.
He, however, said Bangladesh will try to conduct exploration through its own resources in some shallow water blocks. “The deep water blocks may be placed for the international bidding”, he told UNB over phone.
Bangladesh gained some 19,467 square kilometers of maritime areas at the Bay of Bengal from disputed 25,602 square kilometers with neighbouring India in a verdict by Netherlands-based Permanent Court of Arbitration.
The verdict was made public on Tuesday.