M Azizur Rahman

Global heavyweights have lined up to join the hunt for oil and gas in the Bay of Bengal as they bought documents to formally announce their interest for the offshore bidding, officials said Wednesday.

Chevron and Conoco Philips of the United States, British Petroleum, ONGC Videsh of India, Santos of Australia, CNPC of China, Nippon Oil of Japan, Statoil of Norway and Petronas of Malaysia are among the heavyweights, which have bought bid documents.

Officials said as many as 20 foreign companies have so far bought bid documents after the state-owned Petrobangla launched the country's third and offshore bidding for oil and gas exploration the middle of last month.

"We have received very good response from top international oil companies," chairman of Petrobangla Jalal Ahmed said.

The sale of bidding documents and their submission will end on May 7, but the Petrobangla chief said they expect more top companies to join the hunt.

"Everyday we are receiving queries from top companies. We are hopeful that offshore bidding for oil and gas will be a big success," he said.

Another official said 'huge response' from global oil giants was mostly due to the large discoveries made by Chinese and Indian companies in the Myanmar and Indian parts of the Bay of Bengal.

"We haven't conducted any seismic survey. But scientific research and data have so far indicated that the Bay is rich in oil and gas," he said.

The giants aside, companies from Canada, Ireland, South Korea, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Myanmar and Scotland have also purchased bid documents.

Four local companies --- SAHCO International, Nirman Power, NFM Energy, GOE Bangladesh Limited --- have also joined the fray, although none have any experience in oil and gas exploration.

The government invited international oil companies to explore oil and gas in the hydrocarbon-rich Bay of Bengal on February 15, as it seeks to secure future energy security for the country.

This is the third time the government invited international oil companies to explore oil and gas in the country.

The country had earlier had two rounds of international bidding -- in 1993 and 1997 -- for the hunt of gas and oil. But mainly the onshore blocks were auctioned off to the companies during the two biddings.