DHAKA, 29 September 2021, (TON): The SS-4 or Shallow Sea-4 block, located offshore in the Bay of Bengal, will be drilled under Production Sharing Contracts (PSCs) by Indian state-owned ONGC Videsh Ltd, Oil India Ltd, and Bangladesh Petroleum Exploration and Production Company Limited (Bapex).

According to the media reports “the drilling could help the country, which has been experiencing severe gas shortages due to limited output from existing onshore gas fields.”

Finding gas will improve domestic production and reduce reliance on pricey Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG), Md Anisur Rahman, senior secretary of the energy division in the Ministry of Energy, Power and Mineral Resources, told The Business Standard.

He added that because of the worldwide pandemic, the drilling was postponed for a year. International oil firms (IOCs) will now be permitted to search for oil and gas in the shallow sea.

ONGC would drill 4,000 metres beneath the block, according to officials from the Bangladesh Oil, Gas & Mineral Corporation (Petrobangla).

The company plans to drill again on this block in the middle of next year, sources said.