Bangladesh hopes to continue cooperation with Russia’s Gazprom - top diplomat

MOSCOW, April 2. /TASS/. Bangladesh hopes to continue cooperation with Russia’s gas giant Gazprom to develop the existing and prospect for new fields, including on the Indian Ocean shelf, Bangladeshi Foreign Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali said on Monday after talks with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov. "We are glad to continue cooperation with Gazprom, which is active in our country and is developing a number of fields," he said. "We plan to begin drilling at new fields and discussed prospects for cooperation on the shelf." He noted that several years ago his country had settled all the disputable matters on sea borders with its neighbors, India and Myanmar. "That is why we begin prospecting works on the shelf territories in our jurisdiction," he said. "It is a rather spacious water area in the Indian Ocean." Gazprom International, specializing in prospecting for and developing of hydrocarbon fields outside Russia, has been participating in the designing and construction of well in Bangladesh since 2012. By now, it has commissioned 15 wells, including at the Titas, Srikail, Rashidpur and Bakhrabad fields. In March 2017, Gazprom International and Bangladesh’s BAPEX reached an agreement on the construction of two more wells on Bangladesh’s southern island of Bhola. Read more