Chairman of the economics department of Jahangirnagar University and leading public intellectual and activist Professor Anu Muhammad gave an interview from his bed at the emergency ward of Square. See it here, and then read the story below to frame your mind.
The Chinese state oil giant that has a grip on Burma's biggest gas field is now venturing into neighboring Bangladesh—a move which may stifle long-running conflict over territorial waters in the Bay of Bengal.
The China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) is reportedly about to sign an agreement with Bangladesh's government-controlled PetroBangla to search for oil and gas both on and off shore. The deal follows a visit by senior CNPC officials to Bangladesh earlier this year and Chinese government promises of a US $1 billion loan to the impoverished country.
Chinese workers seal the pipeline along the 1,272-kilometer transnational natural gas pipeline in Luoyang in central China’s Henan Province on Dec 11, 2008. China’s demand for oil and gas has expanded rapidly in recently years to fuel its double-digit economic growth, as the country imported nearly 200 million tons of oil in 2007, up more than 10 percent from 2006.
Burma and Bangladesh have clashed over competing territorial claims to sections of the sea believed to hold gas and oil.
Less than one year ago gunboats from the two countries' navies confronted one another around a drilling rig financed by industrial giant Daewoo. The South Korean company is the project leader and major investor in two sectors of the Shwe field just inside Burmese waters which has proven gas reserves of at least 200 billion cubic meters—all of which have recently been bought by CNPC.
Analysts take the view that this development is another example of China hedging its bets in the region on the future of Burma, even though many feel that the military junta-run country has fallen into Beijing's political pocket.
"Given recent events, it would be wise indeed for China to hedge its bets by exploring gas opportunities with Bangladesh," Australian economist and Burma expert Sean Turnell told The Irrawaddy this week. "That this is regardless of border sensibilities says much too about China's real regard to the feelings of its vassal [Burma]."
The offshore border line between Burma and Bangladesh remains undefined under international demarcations defined by the UN's Law of the Sea boundaries. Both countries have stalled making submissions to the UN.
Turnell, a professor at Sydney's Macquarie University and compiler of the Burma Economic Watch, has documented how China's economic and political grip over Burma has grown while Western countries have imposed sanctions against the regime.
Beijing has not only secured large volumes of Burma's gas reserves but is using the impoverished country as a conduit to ship Middle East oil by building a port in an isolated part of Burma's Bay of Bengal coast to transship supplies via a 1,200-kilometer pipeline into China's southwest Yunnan Province.
But Turnell believes even China remains wary of the stability of the Burmese junta.
"The incidents on the [northern] border amply demonstrate the SPDC's own immunity to international opinion when it comes to the crunch—even that of their principal creditor and supporter," he says. Another Chinese state company, Shanghai Electric Group, has just won a US $101 million contract in Bangladesh to build a 150 megawatt gas-fuelled power plant. Burma and Bangladesh have discussed cooperation on mutually beneficial electricity generation a number of times but talks remained inconclusive.
News of the Chinese moves in Bangladesh comes on the heels of other renewed activity in the Bay of Bengal by Burma's energy hungry neighbor.
PetroBangla has awarded offshore exploration contracts to two Western companies— U.S.-based ConocoPhilllips and Ireland's Tullow Oil.
The chairman of PetroBangla, Mohammad Muqtadir Ali, insists the companies will not be allowed to explore for oil and gas in disputed waters.
Previous Bangladeshi efforts to attract foreign bidders for offshore drilling licenses were unsuccessful, seemingly because of the territorial disputes with both Burma and India.
"Several factors have changed recently, including a more stable government in Bangladesh and Dhaka's resolve to submit formal sea territory claims to the United Nations," said Bangkok-based industry analyst-consultant Collin Reynolds.
"But the arrival of Chinese players on both sides of Burma's border is a bit of a conundrum, especially for the government of Burma."
China has also recently expressed interest in co-funding a major crude oil transshipping and processing terminal on the west coast of Malaysia. That terminal also offers Beijing an alternative route for its Middle East imports should relations with Burma sour or a change of regime occurs there.
Showing posts with label Bay of Bengal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bay of Bengal. Show all posts
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Friday, August 7, 2009
Bangladesh's energy security through Bay of Bengal
From: Wall Street Journal
Bangladesh is among a group of the world's poorest countries that may be sitting on top of untold oil and gas wealth, but can't exploit it due to ownership arguments. But with severe economic problems driving it forward, Dhaka is soon to go ahead and award a string of offshore exploration blocks, including to major international companies like Conocophillips (COP).
Overseas oil firms, including the U.S. company, placed the highest bids for some of the blocks, some of which overlap or are near areas claimed by poor neighbor Myanmar and far more wealthy India. "That issue is being discussed as we consider the approval of awards. But I don't think it will hold us up; we're in the final stages of discussion," Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury, energy advisor to the Prime Minister, told Dow Jones Newswires on Thursday.
The licensing round was held before current Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina came to power, so the new government has to study and approve the process, Energy Secretary Mohammad Mohsin told DJN. "A decision could come by the end of this month," he said.
While its first licensing round of offshore blocks may go through without a big fuss, top government officials say they want to pave the way for future auctions of acreage that'll be farther away from its coastline and that could potentially provoke the wrath of neighbors.
Bangladesh is getting ready to offer more offshore acreage, probably by early next year, said state-run Petrobangla's Chairman Muqtadir Ali.
Ownership rows over vast areas of Asia's offshore waters has prevented prospecting and production in many areas that are known to harbor, or may contain large reserves of hydrocarbons, and the Bay of Bengal is no exception.
These include a three-way Malaysia-Indonesia-Brunei dispute, another between Vietnam and Cambodia, one in the East China Sea which continues to sour relations between Beijing and Tokyo, and yet another over the Spratly Islands in the southern waters of the South China Sea between China, Taiwan, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei. Elsewhere, Chevron Corp. (CVX) says it would like to explore more in the Gulf of Thailand, but a Thailand-Cambodia dispute has put offshore prospecting in the area on hold for more than 30 years.
Discoveries of huge amounts of gas in the Bay of Bengal in recent years have brought India, Bangladesh and Myanmar to the negotiating table sporadically, and have also prompted occasional jousting at sea by naval units. Myanmar has long exploited gas in its waters, piping it ashore and on to Thailand. It is now preparing to extract gas from another field in its waters and send it to south China via pipeline.
Recent Talks
Recently there has been a heightened pace of engagement between Bangladesh and Myanmar, where the maritime boundary issue is more critical as a larger area is in dispute than is the case with India. Officials from the two countries met last week. "We (Bangladesh and Myanmar) now agree that we must delimit the boundary as soon as possible so that we can both explore the region for oil and gas," said a senior Bangladeshi negotiator, who didn't wish to be named.
After years of status quo, "there's now an urgency on both sides...there's convergence of views. We may come to an agreement on at least some kind of technical framework, so that we can both go ahead with exploration. After that, the political process will take its own time."
A possible resolution could also include the neighbors jointly exploring some of the regions, Chowdhury said.
Some blocks that Bangladesh has offered are in waters where India has also auctioned acreage.
To the east, military-ruled Myanmar is a more tricky gateway to riches chased by local and regional energy companies and Western majors. "We have steered clear of Myanmar; in fact, not many companies want to be seen involved with that country," said Kevin Quinn, who manages Tullow Oil PLC's (TQW.DB) Tullow Asia business unit. "It's a question of reputation." Tullow is the likely winner in at least one offshore block in Bangladesh's auction.
Chevron has long been under fire from Western human rights activists over its stake in the Yadana gas field offshore Myanmar, from where gas is piped to Thailand.
Bangladesh plans to resolve sovereignty issues bilaterally, but any international arbitration will likely favor Dhaka, Bangladeshi officials claim, citing precedence elsewhere in the world.
Some of the companies involved seem to agree.
"We talked to our experts on international laws of the sea and we see any disputes being favored and settled in favor of Bangladesh in the future," Conoco's Exploration Vice President Larry Archibald told analysts in March, according to a transcript on the company's Web site.
Conoco is a frontrunner for eight deepwater blocks in the latest auctions.
For international oil firms, Bangladesh offers a cheap and convenient entry into some of the least-explored areas in the Bay of Bengal. "For a fairly modest bid," Conoco was the high bidder on virtually all of the deepwater blocks, Archibald said.
Bangladesh, which is heavily dependent on rapidly-depleting onshore gas reserves, urgently needs to exploit offshore gas to plug a growing energy deficit. Its rising gas demand and the shortfall has been made worse by more than six years of virtually no exploration in new regions, said Chowdhury.
It now gets nearly all its gas from onshore fields, but awarding new onshore acreage has been blocked for years because of a long-running court injunction. "We're very short of gas. We will now appeal and seriously try to get the injunction lifted so that we can offer onshore blocks as well," Chowdhury said.
Dhaka plans to gradually reform its gas market to attract more foreign investment, he said. For example, the government is now open to private companies building terminals to import liquefied natural gas.
Bangladesh gets nearly 85% of its electricity from burning domestically produced gas, but has to rely more on imported coal and liquid fuels to meet bridge the gap.
Bangladesh is among a group of the world's poorest countries that may be sitting on top of untold oil and gas wealth, but can't exploit it due to ownership arguments. But with severe economic problems driving it forward, Dhaka is soon to go ahead and award a string of offshore exploration blocks, including to major international companies like Conocophillips (COP).
Overseas oil firms, including the U.S. company, placed the highest bids for some of the blocks, some of which overlap or are near areas claimed by poor neighbor Myanmar and far more wealthy India. "That issue is being discussed as we consider the approval of awards. But I don't think it will hold us up; we're in the final stages of discussion," Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury, energy advisor to the Prime Minister, told Dow Jones Newswires on Thursday.
The licensing round was held before current Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina came to power, so the new government has to study and approve the process, Energy Secretary Mohammad Mohsin told DJN. "A decision could come by the end of this month," he said.
While its first licensing round of offshore blocks may go through without a big fuss, top government officials say they want to pave the way for future auctions of acreage that'll be farther away from its coastline and that could potentially provoke the wrath of neighbors.
Bangladesh is getting ready to offer more offshore acreage, probably by early next year, said state-run Petrobangla's Chairman Muqtadir Ali.
Ownership rows over vast areas of Asia's offshore waters has prevented prospecting and production in many areas that are known to harbor, or may contain large reserves of hydrocarbons, and the Bay of Bengal is no exception.
These include a three-way Malaysia-Indonesia-Brunei dispute, another between Vietnam and Cambodia, one in the East China Sea which continues to sour relations between Beijing and Tokyo, and yet another over the Spratly Islands in the southern waters of the South China Sea between China, Taiwan, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei. Elsewhere, Chevron Corp. (CVX) says it would like to explore more in the Gulf of Thailand, but a Thailand-Cambodia dispute has put offshore prospecting in the area on hold for more than 30 years.
Discoveries of huge amounts of gas in the Bay of Bengal in recent years have brought India, Bangladesh and Myanmar to the negotiating table sporadically, and have also prompted occasional jousting at sea by naval units. Myanmar has long exploited gas in its waters, piping it ashore and on to Thailand. It is now preparing to extract gas from another field in its waters and send it to south China via pipeline.
Recent Talks
Recently there has been a heightened pace of engagement between Bangladesh and Myanmar, where the maritime boundary issue is more critical as a larger area is in dispute than is the case with India. Officials from the two countries met last week. "We (Bangladesh and Myanmar) now agree that we must delimit the boundary as soon as possible so that we can both explore the region for oil and gas," said a senior Bangladeshi negotiator, who didn't wish to be named.
After years of status quo, "there's now an urgency on both sides...there's convergence of views. We may come to an agreement on at least some kind of technical framework, so that we can both go ahead with exploration. After that, the political process will take its own time."
A possible resolution could also include the neighbors jointly exploring some of the regions, Chowdhury said.
Some blocks that Bangladesh has offered are in waters where India has also auctioned acreage.
To the east, military-ruled Myanmar is a more tricky gateway to riches chased by local and regional energy companies and Western majors. "We have steered clear of Myanmar; in fact, not many companies want to be seen involved with that country," said Kevin Quinn, who manages Tullow Oil PLC's (TQW.DB) Tullow Asia business unit. "It's a question of reputation." Tullow is the likely winner in at least one offshore block in Bangladesh's auction.
Chevron has long been under fire from Western human rights activists over its stake in the Yadana gas field offshore Myanmar, from where gas is piped to Thailand.
Bangladesh plans to resolve sovereignty issues bilaterally, but any international arbitration will likely favor Dhaka, Bangladeshi officials claim, citing precedence elsewhere in the world.
Some of the companies involved seem to agree.
"We talked to our experts on international laws of the sea and we see any disputes being favored and settled in favor of Bangladesh in the future," Conoco's Exploration Vice President Larry Archibald told analysts in March, according to a transcript on the company's Web site.
Conoco is a frontrunner for eight deepwater blocks in the latest auctions.
For international oil firms, Bangladesh offers a cheap and convenient entry into some of the least-explored areas in the Bay of Bengal. "For a fairly modest bid," Conoco was the high bidder on virtually all of the deepwater blocks, Archibald said.
Bangladesh, which is heavily dependent on rapidly-depleting onshore gas reserves, urgently needs to exploit offshore gas to plug a growing energy deficit. Its rising gas demand and the shortfall has been made worse by more than six years of virtually no exploration in new regions, said Chowdhury.
It now gets nearly all its gas from onshore fields, but awarding new onshore acreage has been blocked for years because of a long-running court injunction. "We're very short of gas. We will now appeal and seriously try to get the injunction lifted so that we can offer onshore blocks as well," Chowdhury said.
Dhaka plans to gradually reform its gas market to attract more foreign investment, he said. For example, the government is now open to private companies building terminals to import liquefied natural gas.
Bangladesh gets nearly 85% of its electricity from burning domestically produced gas, but has to rely more on imported coal and liquid fuels to meet bridge the gap.
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Jungle training in the Bay of Bengal!
From:
HALFWAY across the world and just over the horizon from some of its most brutal, unstable regimes, the crew of HMS Bulwark are flexing their muscles and flying the flag. The vessel is in the muddy waters of the Bay of Bengal, testing its own personnel as well as building bridges with Commonwealth partners India and Bangladesh.
But while these two countries are trusted partners, a relative stone's throw away is a powder keg.
The xenophobic military dictatorship of Myanmar (formerly Burma) is close, as is Pakistan – a nuclear power bordering Afghanistan with its own burgeoning Taliban threat – and Sri Lanka and Thailand, both fighting hardline domestic insurrections. It means that this leg of the operation, called Shomodro Torongo, the Bengali for Sea Wave, is far from a benign extended exercise. And leading from the front is Bulwark, whose captain, Wayne Keble, admits that simply being here is a risk.
"There is a threat all the time," he said. "All of this area is difficult because of its location and some of it is particularly difficult because of the association with terrorists and the threat from al Qaida. "When we were leaving harbour at India, there were plenty of little fishing skiffs around. "If one of those skiffs was bent on a suicide mission, it would be hard to deal with. It's a constant threat."
There remains a strong argument for the Royal Navy to familiarise itself with a region where so many British people live, should they require help. And the threat is as real from natural disasters as it is from terrorism. Bangladesh was just last week hit by a cyclone which displaced 200,000 people.
"There is a yearly threat from cyclones disaster and the region we are in is ripe for us to offer assistance," said Capt Keble. "It is better we know the territory now than in an emergency."
However, the chance to train personnel to cope with some of the most testing terrain in the world is the main driving force behind Operation Taurus.
Already, the larger taskforce which set sail from Plymouth in February – including Falmouth-based RFA Mounts Bay, and Devonport's HMS Argyll – has taken part in valuable exercises in Cyprus, Turkey and the Persian Gulf. Ahead is challenging jungle training in Brunei.
During the phase in the Bay of Bengal, Bulwark will be joined by an unprecedented number of military and civilian organisations from Bangladesh.
While the ammunition may not be real, again the threat is.
Royal Marine Commandos landing on the flatlands around the mouth of the Ganges will face exceptional challenges of infested mangrove swamps, foul water, extreme temperatures and a densely populated region. Bulwark always carries a medical team, but has had more flown in just in case.
"We are here to deal with real scenarios," said Surgeon Commander Peter Taylor, who was born in Dittisham, near Dartmouth, and is on a seven-week break from NHS duties. "Back home we are frantic when we are at work," said the 45-year-old, whose parents John and Bryony are former Paignton GPs.
"But here we are waiting for the unexpected. "Once we are happy we have the right equipment, we are waiting for something to happen, which is in contrast to other Naval officers." Medical teams have been told the area is "relatively" free of snakes, but have formulated plans to deal with emergencies like venomous bites. "They might be exercises and the ammo isn't live, but the danger is from an environment like this. We have to know how to deal with the worst case scenario."
Commodore Peter Hudson CBE, who is in command of the taskforce from the flagship Bulwark said the scope of the entire Operation Taurus – from Plymouth to just over the equator south of Singapore – is entirely justified.
"Why go to the Far East? Well, we have a lot of obligations over here," said the Stonehouse-based Commodore, who has just been promoted to Rear Admiral.
"We need to exercise and we cannot just do it in the English Channel. "Jungle capability is something we need in the armed forces and we can't do that sort of training in Cornwall."
Operation Taurus is the Royal Navy's most sweeping exercise in more than a decade and positive proof it is an active, exceptional force.
"We are one of the best navies in the world. We are in the premier league and the way we do that is the ability to sustain forces for a long period of time," Commodore Hudson added. "Not many navies can do that. But this is what we do."
HALFWAY across the world and just over the horizon from some of its most brutal, unstable regimes, the crew of HMS Bulwark are flexing their muscles and flying the flag. The vessel is in the muddy waters of the Bay of Bengal, testing its own personnel as well as building bridges with Commonwealth partners India and Bangladesh.
But while these two countries are trusted partners, a relative stone's throw away is a powder keg.
The xenophobic military dictatorship of Myanmar (formerly Burma) is close, as is Pakistan – a nuclear power bordering Afghanistan with its own burgeoning Taliban threat – and Sri Lanka and Thailand, both fighting hardline domestic insurrections. It means that this leg of the operation, called Shomodro Torongo, the Bengali for Sea Wave, is far from a benign extended exercise. And leading from the front is Bulwark, whose captain, Wayne Keble, admits that simply being here is a risk.
"There is a threat all the time," he said. "All of this area is difficult because of its location and some of it is particularly difficult because of the association with terrorists and the threat from al Qaida. "When we were leaving harbour at India, there were plenty of little fishing skiffs around. "If one of those skiffs was bent on a suicide mission, it would be hard to deal with. It's a constant threat."
There remains a strong argument for the Royal Navy to familiarise itself with a region where so many British people live, should they require help. And the threat is as real from natural disasters as it is from terrorism. Bangladesh was just last week hit by a cyclone which displaced 200,000 people.
"There is a yearly threat from cyclones disaster and the region we are in is ripe for us to offer assistance," said Capt Keble. "It is better we know the territory now than in an emergency."
However, the chance to train personnel to cope with some of the most testing terrain in the world is the main driving force behind Operation Taurus.
Already, the larger taskforce which set sail from Plymouth in February – including Falmouth-based RFA Mounts Bay, and Devonport's HMS Argyll – has taken part in valuable exercises in Cyprus, Turkey and the Persian Gulf. Ahead is challenging jungle training in Brunei.
During the phase in the Bay of Bengal, Bulwark will be joined by an unprecedented number of military and civilian organisations from Bangladesh.
While the ammunition may not be real, again the threat is.
Royal Marine Commandos landing on the flatlands around the mouth of the Ganges will face exceptional challenges of infested mangrove swamps, foul water, extreme temperatures and a densely populated region. Bulwark always carries a medical team, but has had more flown in just in case.
"We are here to deal with real scenarios," said Surgeon Commander Peter Taylor, who was born in Dittisham, near Dartmouth, and is on a seven-week break from NHS duties. "Back home we are frantic when we are at work," said the 45-year-old, whose parents John and Bryony are former Paignton GPs.
"But here we are waiting for the unexpected. "Once we are happy we have the right equipment, we are waiting for something to happen, which is in contrast to other Naval officers." Medical teams have been told the area is "relatively" free of snakes, but have formulated plans to deal with emergencies like venomous bites. "They might be exercises and the ammo isn't live, but the danger is from an environment like this. We have to know how to deal with the worst case scenario."
Commodore Peter Hudson CBE, who is in command of the taskforce from the flagship Bulwark said the scope of the entire Operation Taurus – from Plymouth to just over the equator south of Singapore – is entirely justified.
"Why go to the Far East? Well, we have a lot of obligations over here," said the Stonehouse-based Commodore, who has just been promoted to Rear Admiral.
"We need to exercise and we cannot just do it in the English Channel. "Jungle capability is something we need in the armed forces and we can't do that sort of training in Cornwall."
Operation Taurus is the Royal Navy's most sweeping exercise in more than a decade and positive proof it is an active, exceptional force.
"We are one of the best navies in the world. We are in the premier league and the way we do that is the ability to sustain forces for a long period of time," Commodore Hudson added. "Not many navies can do that. But this is what we do."
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
TOTAL 'gasfusion' over gas findings in Bay of Bengal?
The word 'gasfusion' is coined by me. It is in fact replacing the word confusion. Let me explain why am I doing so.
bdnews24 informed us today TOTAL, France's top oil company, has failed to find oil or gas in the two offshore blocks it explored last year. "Total has told us there's no commercially recoverable gas in the Blocks 17 and 18," Petrobangla chairman Jalal Ahmed told bdnews24.com Monday. A report on the findings was handed to Petrobangla officials Monday.
A straight-jacket news, so why there is confusion, or to say gasfusion? Let me explain.
When the whole nation was stuck in BDR tragedy that was unfolding from 25th February, a Reuters dispatch from Dhaka on same day said TOTAL had discovered natural gas in two blocks which also covered an island in the sea in the Bay of Bengal.
I put that Reuters story on my blog on 25th February evening. Quoting Muqtadir Ali, a director at the state-run Bangladesh Oil, Gas and Mineral Corporation or Petrobangla, the Reuters report said if the acquired data matches the commercial viability, it will be one of the biggest natural gas discoveries (in the region) and if everything goes smoothly then production will be started by early 2012.
I thought Bangladesh media simply missed the story because of sheer magnitude of Pilkhana tragedy.
What has happened in between these two weeks that TOTAL is now saying it didn't find gas or oil in that two blocks: 17 and 18, which are close to Myanmar's gas blocks where it had discovered around 6.0 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of gas?
And to create gasfusion further, US oil giant Chevron has secured the official permission to explore gas and oil in another block, 7, encompassing Barisal , Patuakhali, Jhalakathi and Pirojpur districts.
Fine, but is there any link to TOTAL's total about turn and Chevron's recent official permission?
And two quick observations: I didn't see Dhaka Reuters withdrawing its story on 25th February. Nor did I find any rejoinder from TOTAL SA that Reuters story was wrong.
Now I'm smelling some rat here.
bdnews24 informed us today TOTAL, France's top oil company, has failed to find oil or gas in the two offshore blocks it explored last year. "Total has told us there's no commercially recoverable gas in the Blocks 17 and 18," Petrobangla chairman Jalal Ahmed told bdnews24.com Monday. A report on the findings was handed to Petrobangla officials Monday.
A straight-jacket news, so why there is confusion, or to say gasfusion? Let me explain.
When the whole nation was stuck in BDR tragedy that was unfolding from 25th February, a Reuters dispatch from Dhaka on same day said TOTAL had discovered natural gas in two blocks which also covered an island in the sea in the Bay of Bengal.
I put that Reuters story on my blog on 25th February evening. Quoting Muqtadir Ali, a director at the state-run Bangladesh Oil, Gas and Mineral Corporation or Petrobangla, the Reuters report said if the acquired data matches the commercial viability, it will be one of the biggest natural gas discoveries (in the region) and if everything goes smoothly then production will be started by early 2012.
I thought Bangladesh media simply missed the story because of sheer magnitude of Pilkhana tragedy.
What has happened in between these two weeks that TOTAL is now saying it didn't find gas or oil in that two blocks: 17 and 18, which are close to Myanmar's gas blocks where it had discovered around 6.0 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of gas?
And to create gasfusion further, US oil giant Chevron has secured the official permission to explore gas and oil in another block, 7, encompassing Barisal , Patuakhali, Jhalakathi and Pirojpur districts.
Fine, but is there any link to TOTAL's total about turn and Chevron's recent official permission?
And two quick observations: I didn't see Dhaka Reuters withdrawing its story on 25th February. Nor did I find any rejoinder from TOTAL SA that Reuters story was wrong.
Now I'm smelling some rat here.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
US eyes on the Bay of Bengal!
The US proposal to offer assistance to Bangladesh for patrolling maritime boundaries in the Bay of Bengal has raised few eyebrows in the strategic circles. Two leading English dailies of Bangladesh offered contrasting perspectives on this proposal, made recently by US assistant secretary of state Richard Boucher who just concluded his visit here.
Daily Star’s editorial saw the proposal as a ‘good prospect’ for technical assistance. New Age thought it otherwise, and termed the proposal as ‘wolf in sheep’s clothing’.
Read a detailed reaction in another New Age story why some people are worried about the US proposal.
By the way, read it together with a concern expressed by a Myanmar General that he has received information of movements of US Navy fleets using Thai and Bangladesh waters as a base.
So, is Bangladesh slowly turning into a launching pad? For what?
Daily Star’s editorial saw the proposal as a ‘good prospect’ for technical assistance. New Age thought it otherwise, and termed the proposal as ‘wolf in sheep’s clothing’.
Read a detailed reaction in another New Age story why some people are worried about the US proposal.
By the way, read it together with a concern expressed by a Myanmar General that he has received information of movements of US Navy fleets using Thai and Bangladesh waters as a base.
So, is Bangladesh slowly turning into a launching pad? For what?
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