Bangladesh has awarded three offshore blocks to two global energy companies to explore for gas in the Bay of Bengal, a senior energy official said Tuesday. The U.S.-based ConocoPhillips and Ireland's Tullow Oil could start exploration work by early next year, said Mohammad Muqtadir Ali, chairman of the state-owned Bangladesh Oil, Gas and Mineral Corporation, or Petrobangla. The Associated Press quoted Ali as saying that the decision came Monday from a Cabinet committee on economic affairs, the highest body to deal with economic issues, as the nation seeks new sources of gas amid a forecast that its current reserves will run out by 2014-15.
