Several thousand people rallied in Bangladesh's capital Monday against new gas exploration deals with foreign companies, blocking downtown streets, singing and throwing stones. But activists' calls for a half-day strike in Dhaka, a city of 12 million, were largely ignored. Bangladeshi authorities last month awarded three offshore blocks to US-based ConocoPhillips and Ireland's Tullow Oil to explore for gas in the Bay of Bengal, as the country faces a forecast that its current reserves will run out by 2014 or 2015. A local pressure group, the National Committee to Protect Oil-Gas Mineral Resources, Power and Ports, fears the companies will export any gas they find and deprive the energy-deficient country of its own resources. “We have called this strike to protect the present and future generations of Bangladesh,” the group said in a statement ahead of the protest. Foreign companies explore and produce gas in deals with the state-run Petrobangla corporation. But successive governments have discouraged gas exports, saying at least 50 years' worth of reserves must be maintained for domestic use. Bangladesh has proven natural gas reserves of up to 15 trillion cubic feet (420 billion cubic meters). No arrests or injuries were reported in Monday's protests. Organizers said a few thousand people participated.
