, Feb. 21 -- The government is planning to float an international tender in March for hydrocarbon exploration in the country's maritime areas, where it would like US oil giant ExxonMobil to participate and show its hand in the bidding round.

The US oil major was conveyed the government's advice when a delegation of the company, led by its Opportunity Manager Jonathan Wilson, met State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid at his office in the ministry on Tuesday (yesterday).

Nearly a year ago, in March 2023, an ExxonMobil spokesperson had confirmed to Upstream, a trade publication in the oil and gas industries, that: "ExxonMobil has held initial discussions with Petrobangla regarding Bangladesh's plans for an exp...