Govt forms Blue Economy Cell

The government has formed Blue Economy Cell under the Energy and Mineral Resources Division (EMRD) for exploration, conservation, and sustainable collection and management of natural and mineral resources in the Bangladeshi territory of the Bay of Bengal. The cell is charged with multi-disciplinary responsibilities, which mainly include collecting saltwater fish resources, exploring hydrocarbon resources or fossil fuel and looking into tourism prospects. The Energy and Mineral Resources Division has appointed Additional Secretary Golam Fakhruddin Ahmed Chowdhury as the chief of the cell. Its office has been set up at the Petro Centre, the headquarters of Bangladesh Oil, Gas and Mineral Corporation (Petrobangla), in Dhaka's Karwan Bazar area. The government believes there is a huge chance that there are hydrocarbon deposits – both oil and gas – under the Bay of Bengal. “Chances of discovering hydrocarbon deposits in our territory of the Bay of Bengal are high, as some have already been found off the Myanmar coast near Bangladeshi marine territory and the Godavari and Manandi deltas of India,” EMRD Secretary Nazimuddin Chowdhury told the Dhaka Tribune. “We plan to explore the offshore areas of Bangladesh for marine resources as well as for hazard assessment,” he added. The major responsibilities of the Blue Economy Cell will be to see if different marine resources such as fossil fuel, tidal energy, offshore wind, etc are available for use and have economic values, and if it is possible to secure fresh water supply and produce salt, use ocean thermal energy and mine aggregates and marine minerals. To this end, the government plans to acquire a survey vessel with modern dynamic positioning and conduct geological, geomorphological, geotechnical and geohazard reconnaissance mapping of coastal and estuary areas and territorial sea up to 12 nautical miles (22.22km), exclusive economic zone up to 200 nautical miles (370.4km), and 350 nautical miles (648.2km) more onwards. Bangladesh won more than 118,813sq-km of waters altogether comprising territorial sea and an exclusive economic zone extending out to 200 nautical miles (370km). It also has undeniable sovereign rights in the seabed extending as far as 354 nautical miles (around 656km) from Chittagong coast in the Bay of Bengal with all living and non-living resources. The Blue Economy Cell will work for placer mineral deposits, heavy mineral sands and some radioactive minerals which are present in the prospective areas of Bangladesh. Mineral deposits with large economic values are present in mid to outer continental shelf of Bangladesh, from 80m to 200m of water depth. On behalf of the government, Petrobangla needs to acquire the initial data through multi-client seismic survey to attract potential international oil companies in the areas which will help the cell. Petrobangla also needs to revise contractual and financial structure of the deep-water model production-sharing contract to make it comparable with the neighbouring countries and current global practices.