Dhaka, Sept. 17 -- The government has approved a project to procure new drilling rigs in a bid to strengthen the capacity of Bangladesh Petroleum Exploration and Production Company Limited (Bapex) and accelerate domestic gas exploration.

Planning Adviser Dr. Wahiduddin Mahmud disclosed the decision while briefing reporters after a meeting of the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) held at the NEC conference room on Wednesday.

He said the government has been persistently trying to reduce dependency on imported LNG by expanding local gas exploration.

"In almost every Ecnec meeting, one or more gas exploration projects are discussed and approved. This time, we have cleared a project for procuring rigs for Bapex so...