Bangladesh on Sunday announced an international bid round for the exploration of oil and natural gas in 24 blocks in the Bay of Bengal under a new Production Sharing Contract (PSC) to enhance energy production.

A notice was published on the website of the state-owned Oil, Gas and Mineral Corporation and in advertisements in several national newspapers. Apart from this, letters were sent to foreign embassies in Dhaka to inform them about the tender.

The bid is open to participation from 55 international companies. The invitation, the first in eight years, extends to nine shallow sea blocks and 15 deep-sea blocks for oil and gas exploration as the country resolved maritime disputes with India in 2012 and with Myanmar in 2014.

In Bangladesh, the last tender for offshore oil and gas exploration was called in 2016. Although a new PSC was signed in 2019, no tender was called. Nearly four years later, the cabinet approved a new PSC in July last year.

Currently, about 2,300 million cubic feet of gas per day is being produced from 21 gas fields in Bangladesh, while about 700 million cubic feet of gas per day is being imported from abroad in order to meet the market demand in the South Asian country.

Bangladesh required about 6.7 million tonnes of fuel in the fiscal year 2021-22, with the country's fuel consumption rising by up to 8 percent each year, according to data from the Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation.