The Russian Federation is keen to invest in Bangladesh's energy and power sector, especially in exploration and drilling of hydrocarbon in onshore areas, said Russian Ambassador to Bangladesh Alexander A. Nikolaev.
He expressed his country's interests during a meeting with the State Minister for Energy, Power and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid at the latter's Secretariat office in the capital on Wednesday.
Currently the Russian Oil and Gas company Gazprom is busy in drilling 10-12 wells in different part of the country under different projects worth about $200 million.
"Russia is our tested and trusted friend and we have a very strong longstanding cooperation in energy sector for decades, however, the Ambassador expressed his country's renewed desire to work jointly in our energy sector," the State Minister said following the meeting.
During the meeting with the State Minister, the Russian Ambassador handed over letter of Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak to Nasrul Hamid.
Russia is keen to take part in our exploration work, as a partner of BAPEX they are working in hydrocarbon exploration in our onshore areas, the state Minister said.
"The letter said that Russian Federation has wanted to expand the areas of cooperation in energy sector of Bangladesh, in line with that the Russian energy minister expressed his desire of signing a Memorendum of Understanfing (MoU) with us," Nasrul Hamid said.
According to the sources the letter identified the areas of cooperation to be undertaken in joint venture, including exploration of hydrocarbon, experts training in energy sector, establishment of a hyfrocarbon unit and petroleum engineering.
"We sought their expertise for the development of our human resources in energy sector and establish a Joint Training Institute with joint investment to develop our Petroleum Institute," the State Minister said.