DHAKA, 23 February 2006 — Bangladesh government has suspended gas exploration in an island due to fears of environmental damage, sources said.
“The government ordered a halt to gas exploration by Irish-owned firm Tullow Bangladesh Ltd. in ecologically fragile St. Martin’s Island because of fears of environmental damage,” a government official said yesterday. “We’ve halted the seismic survey of Tullow in St. Martin’s Island as it is an ecologically critical area,” an official in Bangladesh’s Environment Ministry told AFP.
“They were mistakenly given permission to carry out the survey in the area by a regional environment office. But we’ve canceled it as it is prohibited to carry out such survey there,” he said. Situated over 500 km south of Dhaka, St. Martin’s is Bangladesh’s lone coral island and is home to rare species of turtles. Tullow Bangladesh is part of Tullow Oil International Ltd. based in Ireland. Bangladesh environmental experts had expressed fears drilling could harm the island’s ecology and their calls prompted the government to declare it an environmentally critical area.
Tullow was given permission to explore for gas and oil in the island and a large swathe of the coastal district of Cox’s Bazar in 1997. It signed a production-sharing agreement with state-owned Petrobangla the same year.
Tullow can carry on with its exploration of the coastal district of Cox’s Bazar.
The company began the $7 million seismic survey of St. Martin’s early this month as a prelude to further work in the area after winning environmental clearance Dec. 29, according to the leading Bengali daily Ittefaq. Preliminary studies by the company indicated that St. Martin’s contains large deposits of oil and natural gas. The government will now review an environment impact assessment report of Tullow before deciding whether to allow the company to proceed with the seismic survey, the official said.
Tullow officials did not return calls for comment. Bangladesh has proven recoverable gas reserves of 13 trillion cubic feet, which are expected to last until 2017. Over three trillion cubic feet have already been extracted, according to official figures. Development of the reserves has been slow because the country said it wants to use the gas for internal needs and not for export to countries such as India. — Additional input from AFP.
