Business India reports that Bangladeshi Minister for Mineral Resources, Mosharraf Hossain, on Saturday said several international companies had shown interest in exploring gas in the deepwater Bay of Bengal, where exploration was currently banned by the Bangladeshi High Court.

"We want to make way for the international companies to survey and explore new gas fields in the Bay of Bengal," said Hossain, adding that his government would take steps to legally vacate the court order.

Companies from Thailand, Malaysia, China and the US had recently expressed interest in conducting seismic surveys in the area where both Myanmar and India had recently discovered gas.

"We think there is gas in the Bangladesh part of the sea. The ministry will collect the latest terms and conditions from different countries to set terms and conditions for offshore blocks," he said.

Meanwhile, Myanmar's government has ruled that its state oil company will have exclusive rights to exploit onshore oil and gas deposits, effectively blocking future foreign company involvement in that South-East Asian nation’s energy industry.

The Myanmar Energy Ministry had sent letters to foreign companies saying all onshore blocks would be reserved for the government-owned Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise, said the weekly Myanmar Times, quoting Soe Aung, director of the ministry's Energy Planning Department.

But there was no indication that existing onshore contracts would be terminated.