A Chinese geophysical service firm, BGP Incorporation, has launched two-dimensional seismic survey for exploration of oil and gas in two blocks of the Bay of Bengal.
"The survey was started this week," Energy and Mineral Resources Division secretary Mohammad Mejbah-uddin told on Wednesday.
He said the survey is expected to end by April.
BGP is surveying blocks 10 and 11 in the Bay to determine the exact location and volume of oil-gas reserves.
US oil giant ConocoPhillips chose the Chinese firm from a shortlist of eight companies for the survey.
On Sep 22, the Chinese firm won the final tender called by the US firm. Petrobangla gave go-ahead to ConocoPhillips on Dec 7 to appoint the Chinese firm.
The government on Jun 16 last signed a production-sharing agreement (PSC) with ConocoPhillips authorising it to operate seismic surveys and lift gas in sea blocks 11 and 12 -- an area of 5158 square kilometres.
The two blocks, some 280 km from Chittagong port, are about 1 km to 1.5 km deep.
The agreement provides for conducting two-dimensional seismic survey covering 973 line kilometres in the initial stage.
The US firm, as a part of the nine-year deal, has given a bank guarantee of $160 million and agreed to operate surveys and excavation in three stages.
The National Committee on Protection of Oil, Gas and Mineral Resources, Power and Ports — comprising academics, students, professionals and media activists — has since been holding series of demonstrations to protest the deal.
No sooner had the deal been inked with ConocoPhillips than the committee enforced a half-day general strike in protest.
The committee claims that the deal allows the US firm to take away 80 percent of oil and gas it will extract off the deep-sea, while Bangladesh will count losses carrying the remainder to mainland, or buy oil and gas from ConocoPhillips.
At present, Bangladesh produces around 2 billion cubic feet of gas a day against daily demand of more than 2.5 billion.
Ads by Cash-71
Ferry services on the Mawa-Kewrakandi route remained suspended for at least three hours early Thursday due to dense fog.
Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corporation's Mawa manager Sirajul Hoque told ferry operations on the route stopped around 6am Thursday to avoid any accident.
Six ferries had been anchored in the mid-river while five others got stuck in the pier during the suspension.
The halt created long lines of vehicles on both sides.
Sirajul said the ferries resumed services around 9am after the fog eased.
The war crimes tribunal on Thursday rejected the second bail petition for Jamaat-e-Islami guru Ghulam Azam facing charges of crimes against humanity.
The International Crimes Tribunal, set up to try crimes against humanity during the 1971 Liberation War, said that it found no documents substantiating the former Jamaat-e-Islami chief's claim of deteriorating health.
Justice Nizamul Huq, chairman of the tribunal, said in his order that charges had already been taken into cognisance and the court was currently in the middle of hearing formal charges while stated that the prisoner had been in custody since Jan 11, 2012, which was not unreasonably long.
There were several other items that the court dealt with on Thursday.
In the case against Jamaat executive council member Delwar Hossain Sayedee where the court was expected to hear further witness testimonies, the tribunal adjourned the proceedings till March 4 as the prosecution could not produce witnesses on Thursday and it failed to guarantee presenting any further witnesses next week.
The tribunal also adjourned the scheduled indictment hearing of Jamaat secretary general Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujaheed till March 11, as defence counsel Munshi Ahsan Kabir pleaded that he had not even been able to read the documents served upon him on Feb8, which were in total almost 7,000 pages.
In response to petition brought by the defence against Bengali daily Janakantha, the tribunal chairman has asked the reporter concerned to be present at the court on Sunday at 10:30 for further proceedings on the matter.