Bonikbarta Exclusive

Neighboring Myanmar has approximately 23 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of gas reserves. At one point, it was said that the country’s gas reserves would meet its domestic demand for at least 150 years. For a long time, Myanmar exported surplus gas to China and Thailand. However, the ongoing civil war has disrupted the country’s gas extraction activities. Several Western companies have halted their operations in Myanmar, leaving consumers to face a gas shortage despite the surplus.

Foreign oil and gas companies once recognized Myanmar’s gas potential and invested heavily in the sector. However, years of political instability and geopolitical crises have jeopardized their operations in Myanmar. After the military junta’s coup ousting the elected government in 2021, the country’s instability reached its peak. Political disputes escalated into civil war, leading foreign companies to withdraw their investments. The gas sector collapsed, and electricity production also suffered.

Bangladesh was also once considered a gas surplus nation. The country has a proven gas reserve of about 30 trillion cubic feet (Tcf), though over 21 Tcf has already been extracted. Various foreign surveys have suggested that Bangladesh may have even larger reserves. Colorado-based consultancy firm Gustavson Associates presented a report in 2011 estimating the country’s potential gas reserves at 38 Tcf, with a 50 percent probability of reserves exceeding 63 Tcf. Despite this report, the government dismissed Gustavson’s findings. No steps were taken to explore these potential reserves. Instead of pursuing exploration, the government increased dependency on imports, exacerbating the gas sector’s crisis.

Energy experts believe that both Bangladesh and Myanmar have always had significant potential in the gas sector. Once seen as surplus nations, Myanmar now struggles to extract enough gas due to its civil war, while Bangladesh has followed a policy of LNG import dependency instead of investing in gas exploration and extraction. Both nations are now facing severe crises in their gas sectors, with energy security risks becoming more prominent in their economies.

The Myanmar government has recently taken the initiative to invite international tenders for oil and gas exploration in the Bay of Bengal. Additionally, it has restructured its energy plans to rely on domestically extracted gas. Similarly, Bangladesh issued an international tender for oil and gas exploration in the Bay of Bengal this March, with several multinational companies expressing interest. However, there are concerns that the Rohingya crisis could hamper exploration activities in the Bay of Bengal for both Bangladesh and Myanmar. Geopolitical analysts believe that unless the Rohingya crisis is resolved peacefully, the resource extraction process in the Bay of Bengal is likely to face significant disruption.

In Bangladesh, Chevron’s Bibiyana gas field remains the largest supplier to the national grid. Chevron also operated in Myanmar but decided to withdraw its investment as the country’s political instability following the military coup began to shift towards civil war. Most recently, in April of this year, Thailand’s state-owned fossil fuel extraction company PTT Exploration and Production Company (PTTEP) announced that Chevron’s subsidiary Unocal Myanmar Offshore Company (UMOC) had withdrawn its investment from Myanmar’s largest gas project, Yadana. PTTEP and local partner firms have since taken over UMOC’s share in the project. According to media reports, gas reserves in Yadana are nearing depletion, and the civil war has made it impossible to ramp up extraction and exploration activities in other fields in Myanmar.

Bangladesh has a long history of gas exploration. The first tender under the PSC framework was issued in 1974 after independence. However, international oil and gas companies became more active in the 1990s. Two international tenders were issued during this time under the PSC framework, resulting in the discovery of five gas fields. In 1993, Petrobangla signed agreements with multinational companies to explore eight gas blocks. Under the PSC framework, the US company Occidental was awarded exploration rights for blocks 12, 13, and 14, while Dutch-based Cairn Energy signed agreements for blocks 15 and 16. Additionally, Rexwood Auckland was awarded blocks 17 and 18, and United Meridian was awarded block 12.

In 1997, Petrobangla issued another international tender for larger-scale gas exploration on land under the PSC framework, covering four blocks. Shell and Cairn Energy jointly explored block 5; Unocal Corporation explored block 7; Tullow and Chevron-Texaco explored block 9; and Shell and Cairn Energy jointly explored block 10. The exploration in block 9 led to the discovery of the Bangura gas field, where Tullow found 1,100 billion cubic feet (Bcf) of gas.

From 2008 to 2012, under the jurisdiction of the PSC (Production Sharing Contract), several offshore blocks were opened for tender in Bangladesh. In 2008, joint ventures between ConocoPhillips and BAPEX aimed at exploring gas in DS-8 and DS-10 blocks. However, these explorations did not yield any significant discoveries. Subsequently, until 2012, tenders were invited for three more blocks. In blocks SS-4 and SS-9, BAPEX collaborated with the Indian company ONGC Videsh, while in block SS-11, joint exploration was conducted between BAPEX and Santos-KrisEnergy. These endeavors also failed to uncover any new gas fields.

In 2016, under the Quick Enhancement of Electricity and Energy Supply (Special Provisions) Act 2010, the government leased blocks DS-10, DS-11, DS-12, and SS-10 to South Korea’s POSCO Daewoo Corporation. However, apart from ONGC Videsh, most other companies eventually abandoned these blocks.

According to energy expert and geologist Professor Badrul Imam, the lack of substantial gas exploration in Bangladesh primarily stems from a lack of interest. He highlighted to Bonik Barta, “The focus was more on imports than on discovering reserves. As a result, while gas was consumed, no significant initiatives were taken to secure reserves. Various internal and geopolitical factors also played a role over the years. Following the resolution of the maritime boundary dispute with Myanmar, Bangladesh had a significant opportunity for large-scale gas exploration in the sea, but this opportunity was not utilized. Conversely, after resolving their maritime boundary, Myanmar brought in foreign oil and gas companies and found gas reserves. For more than two decades, internal and geopolitical challenges hindered Bangladesh’s exploration efforts. Despite strong prospects of finding gas, many areas remained unexplored. If these areas had been investigated, Bangladesh could have confirmed whether gas existed or not. After settling the maritime boundary with Myanmar and India, both countries found gas reserves through exploration, but Bangladesh, for reasons unknown, failed to conduct similar explorations.” Professor Imam blamed this inaction on a lack of interest and a focus on import-dependent policies.

The maritime boundary dispute with India was resolved in 2014. Although 10 years have passed since then, Bangladesh has not shown any significant activity in deep-sea exploration. Meanwhile, India has made considerable progress, with state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC) discovering large deposits of oil and gas earlier this year in the deep sea, just 35 kilometers off the coast of Andhra Pradesh.

On the other hand, it has been 14 years since Bangladesh settled its maritime boundary with Myanmar and 10 years with India. During this period, Bangladesh has seen no success in oil and gas extraction in the deep sea. Experts accuse the country of delaying exploration and focusing too heavily on import-dependent energy policies. While Myanmar and India have ramped up efforts and secured foreign investments, Bangladesh has remained stagnant, resulting in its vast maritime energy resources staying untapped.

Former BUET professor and energy expert Ijaz Hossain told Bonik Barta, “Myanmar had made some progress in gas exploration, but internal issues like military rule have hindered their progress. On the other hand, Bangladesh has largely failed in its gas exploration efforts. The country has always been skeptical about the existence of gas reserves, leading to decisions influenced by politics and geopolitics. However, there were opportunities to bring in large foreign companies for exploration.  Bangladesh missed out on significant potential.”

For over two decades, the gas sector has seen minimal investment, leading to an increase in import dependence. Exploration in the country has mostly been conducted by the state-owned company BAPEX. Since the company’s inception, there has been investment of a total of BDT 40 to 50 billion in exploration and surveys.

From 2009 to 2024, the Energy Division claims to have discovered six new gas fields. In this period, 21 exploration wells, 50 development wells, and 56 workover wells have been drilled. Additionally, six-thousand kilometers of 3D seismic surveys have been conducted, along with the construction of 1,355 kilometers of gas transmission pipelines and facilities for oil storage and supply pipelines.

Currently, Petrobangla is drilling 50 wells as part of the ongoing gas exploration efforts in the country. By mid-2025 to 2028, it plans to drill at least 100 more wells, with an estimated cost of around BDT 200 billion.