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Gas exploration in Block 10

No contract signed yet with UNOCAL, JS told

By Staff Correspondent
Identifying shortage of gas supply as a major hurdle in ac-ceferating the country's power production, Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Md Nooruddin Khan told the Jatiya Sangsad yesterday that some immediate steps were being taken by the government to improve the situation.
The minister said a new gas well would be dug soon in the Bakhrabad gas field, while preparatory measures were being taken to bring southern and northern zones of the country under the gas supply'network.
Referring to the^ latest dis? covery of a gas field at Shabazpur with an expected stock of one trillion cubic feet of gas, the minister said, from
there, gas would be supplied to southern parts of the country.
He also informed the House that with an aim to supplying gas to the northern region after completion of the Jamuna Bridge, pipeline have already been extended up to Alenga in Tangail.
Out of 23 gas-reserve blocks in the country, exploration con- I tracts have already been signed for eight, the minister said adding that bidding for the re-maining 15 blocks would begin ; after July 15, the last date of : submission of tenders.
As a lawmaker from the Op- 1 position Bench drew his atten- I tion to reported signing of a . contract with a US company, UNOCAL instead of open bidding. the Energy and Mineral Resources Minister said, "No contract has been signed, rather. BAPEX. Petrobangla and UNOCAL have signed a 'Letter of Intent' for exploration in a small portion of Block 10."
He added that UNOCAL had worked side by side with BAPEX over the last one and half years in digging a well at Shahbazpur.
"In last month's meetings in London and Houston we made it clear to foreign companies that Block 10 is yet free for gas exploration." the minister said.
Another BNP MP asked the minister whether four BNP leaders, including the former energy minister, were accused of "subversive activities’ in the probe report regarding recent power towers collapse in Pabna.
In response, the minister said. "That was a technical report and nobody is shown accused specifically in the report. However, eight persons have been arrested so far for possessing parts of the fallen towers. It is not possible yet to tell who was behind this subversive act."
"But", Opposition Whip Jainul Abedin Faruq pointed out. "The head of the government had said on a previous occasion, at the airport, that BNP leaders were involved in the subversive act."