State Minister for Power and Energy Nasrul Hamid Bipu has said the government will soon invite bidders for exploration in seven ocean blocks after updating the PSC.
The junior minister said oil and gas exploration would be carried out at 1,200-2,000 metres depth in the ocean.
“We still have around seven blocks. After we modernise the PSC, we will go for bidding,” he told reporters after attending the inauguration of a tank terminal of an oil distribution company in Chittagong on Friday.
He said hopefully there would be oil and gas in these blocks.
“These blocks are adjacent to Myanmar’s blocks. They have already gone for bidding and they’ve found that oil and gas may be extracted from there,” he added. An ‘energy hub’ will be created in Matarbarhi in Maheshkhali, Hamid said.
“There will be coal terminals and power plants there. This is Japan’s biggest investment in Bangladesh in 40 years,” he added.
Another five nations had expressed interest to build power plants there, he said. “In the next five years this region will see $10 billion in investments. This will benefit the people of Chittagong and the hill tracts.”
He also spoke about a plan to build liquified petroleum gas plants to meet household gas demand.
“We had a long discussion in Parliament yesterday. We have agreed that for households, we should go for LPG. If needed we’ll subsidise it so that everyone can afford it,” he said in reply to a question.
