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State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Amitav Bose
Unveiling an ambitious strategic policy pivot aimed at insulating the national economy from volatile global commodity markets and restoring sovereign energy security, State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Amitav Bose declared on Tuesday (September 29) night that the interim government is prioritizing aggressive domestic hydrocarbon exploration over expensive foreign liquefied natural gas (LNG) import dependence. Addressing senior geologists, energy economists, and corporate executives during an energy policy conference at the Bidyut Bhaban auditorium in Dhaka, the minister emphasized that unlocking untapped indigenous gas reserves constitutes an urgent economic necessity.
State Minister Amitav Bose announced that state hydrocarbon corporation Petrobangla has finalized accelerated drilling timelines for its landmark 50-well exploration and development campaign across onshore gas fields in the Surma Basin and the Chittagong Fold Belt. Between late 2026 and 2028, BAPEX and international drilling partners will drill 28 exploratory wells and 22 workover wells to extract an estimated 500 million cubic feet per day (MMcfd) of natural gas. Bose pointed out that each domestic discovery directly saves hundreds of millions of dollars in scarce foreign exchange currently drained by spot LNG cargoes.
Detailing offshore petroleum developments, the minister confirmed that the government has modernized the Model Production Sharing Contract (Model PSC 2026) to offer globally competitive fiscal terms and full gas pricing flexibility, successfully attracting major international oil companies (IOCs) to participate in offshore deepwater exploration in the Bay of Bengal. Bose disclosed that multi-client 2D and 3D seismic survey datasets covering 24 offshore maritime blocks are being distributed to energy conglomerates from the United States, Japan, and Western Europe, paving the way for multi-billion-dollar maritime drilling contracts.
Energy sector analysts, industrial chamber leaders, and macroeconomists strongly endorsed the administration's focus on domestic resource mobilization, noting that astronomical energy import bills over the past five years severely depleted central bank foreign exchange reserves and triggered rolling industrial gas rationing. Analysts underscored that achieving self-sufficiency in domestic natural gas production is the single most effective hedge against global geopolitical supply disruptions while revitalizing domestic power plants and energy-intensive manufacturing clusters in Narayanganj and Gazipur.
Issuing decisive operational directives to Petrobangla and BAPEX executives in Dhaka on Tuesday night, State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Amitav Bose stressed that bureaucratic delays in exploration will no longer be tolerated. Addressing the energy conference, State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Amitav Bose stated, "Our soil and our seas hold vast untapped energy wealth; we can no longer afford to bankrupt our state exchequer by importing exorbitantly priced spot LNG while our own gas reserves lie unexplored." He directed state mining engineers to accelerate 3D seismic mapping across the Sylhet and Bhola hydrocarbon structures on a war footing.
