Is oil and gas exploration in the Bay turning into a geopolitical issue?

Kutubdia well drilled by Union Oil confirmed the presence of gas. For some reasons, all these companies winded up their exploration activities by the end of 1977. The discovery of Sangu gas field offshore recently once again raised demands for fresh oil and gas exploration venture in the offshore region of Bangladesh. New 20 offshore blocks, excluding already existing 23 blocks, have been proposed for third round bidding. The new offshore blocks cover an area of about 106,500 sq.miles within 200 nautical miles of exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of Bangladesh.

Oil and natural gas exploration on the seabed also led many nations to look beyond their territorial waters. The gas discovery in the Krishna-Godavari offshore and Mahanadi offshore of India indicates oil and gas prospect in the western part of the Bay of Bengal, while same applies to the eastern part of the Bay of Bengal due to gas discovery in the Arakan coast of Myanmar. Meanwhile, India and Myanmar have also entered for oil and gas exploration in their respective EEZ zones. Controversy and dispute have recently cropped-up when both India and Myanmar have assigned their EEZ limit partly over lapping with the EEZ of Bangladesh. In order to resolve this dispute, India, and Myanmar should honor the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

According to the UN convention, the control of the oceans is regulated by the 1982 Law of the Sea Convention that went into effect on November 16, 1994. This law defines oceanic jurisdiction for all nations. It establishes the principle of a 200-nautical-mile limit (370 km) on a nation's exclusive economic zone (EEZ) whereby a nation controls the undersea resources, primarily fishing and seabed mining, for a distance of 200 nautical miles from its shore / baseline. The convention includes provisions for establishing the various maritime zones of a coastal state such as the Territorial Sea up to a distance of 12 nautical miles from the baseline, the Contiguous Zone of 24 nautical miles, and the Outer Limits of the Continental Shelf beyond 200 nautical miles. UNCLOS states that except where otherwise provided in the Convention, the normal baseline for measuring the breadth of the territorial sea is the low-water line along the coast as marked on large-scale charts officially recognized by the coastal State (Article 5, Section 2).

It further states that in localities where the coastline is deeply indented and cut into, or if there is a fringe of islands along the coast in its immediate vicinity, the method of straight baselines joining appropriate points may be employed in drawing the baseline from which the breadth of the territorial sea is measured. Where, because of the presence of a delta and other natural conditions, the coastline is highly unstable, the appropriate points may be selected along the furthest seaward extent of the low-water line and, notwithstanding subsequent regression of the low-water line, the straight baseline shall remain effective until changed by the coastal State in accordance with the Convention (Article 7, Section 2). While the Territorial Sea, Contiguous Zone and EEZ follow essentially from the baseline, the outer limits of the Continental Shelf have to be established by physical surveys in accordance with the guidelines contained in the Convention.

The question is where from at the shore / baseline the 200 nautical miles would be measured. On the other hand, a baseline is not the coastline rather the baseline is the reference line within the shore zone covering spatial zones of both backshore and foreshore upto the shore face. In terms of international agreements, water areas with a depth less than 70 fathoms are marked as the shores from which economic zone of 200 nautical miles are measured. This excludes 12 nautical miles of territorial waters.

According to the customary geological definition, the continental shelf of a coastal state under the Law of the Sea Convention has been defined as comprising the seabed and the sub soil of the submarine areas. It extends beyond its territorial sea throughout the natural prolongation of its land territory to the outer edge of the continental margin comprising the physiographic shelf, slope and rise.

Based on the above convention and the physiographic conditions of the coastal region of Bangladesh, it is opined that Bangladesh can claim its jurisdiction of the sea covering an area demarcated as ABCD of the enclosed map. The claim of Bangladesh is also geo-scientifically justified because both India and Myanmar does not have the continental shelf that develops with the kind of accretion that takes place along the Bangladesh part. The continental shelf of Bangladesh is much greater than that of India and Myanmar. The line of 70 fathom of Bangladesh shelf is also much greater seaward. The deep-sea canyon, known as "Swatch of No-ground", which is the principal avenue for transportation of Bengal Fan Sediments, also occurs inside the Bangladesh Territorial Water. It is further envisaged that the proposed offshore survey blocks of Bangladesh is well inside the demarcated jurisdiction offshore area. If it is true that both India and Myanmar has set its offshore survey area overlapping partly with the proposed survey area of Bangladesh then it needs to be considered as defying the UN Convention.

Dr. Aftab Alam Khan is Professor, Geology, Dhaka University