India says it is opening up the strategic Andaman Islands in the Bay of Bengal for oil and gas exploration following seismic surveys that have suggested substantial hydrocarbon deposits in their offshore reaches. Officials in the country's Directorate of Hydrocarbons told the BBC that two exploration blocks off the coast of the Andamans will be offered for exploration in the next round of bidding to foreign companies. From Calcutta Subir Bhaumik sent us this report:

The eastern islands of Andaman in the Bay of Bengal are treated as a zone of great strategic importance by India. One of the country's strongest naval bases is located in the islands, with responsibility to defend India's eastern coast.

Delhi has turned down proposals to turn the Andamans into a free-port zone, ostensibly for strategic reasons. But senior officials in the Directorate of Hydrocarbons say at least two huge blocks covering nearly 37,000 square kilometres off the Andamans' coast will now be offered in the next round of bidding for exploration zones by foreign companies this year.

The officials, who are not willing to be named, told the BBC that so far India's Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, ONGC, has dug 12 wells in the Andamans and one of them has already yielded gas. They said that a foreign company, Western Geophysical, conducted extensive seismic surveys in the Andamans last year and reports point to substantial gas reserves in the offshore reaches of the islands.