DHAKA -- A Bangladesh government-constituted committee Sunday ruled out exporting natural gas to India despite pressures from profit-hungry Western oil exploration companies.

M. Tamim said the National Committee on Utilization of Natural Gas had, after initial differences, "unanimously agreed" at a meeting that ended late Saturday that Bangladesh was not in a position to export gas with its current reserves.

"Limited gas exports may be considered only once new gas fields are found," Tamim told AFP, dismissing suggestions that exports would be considered once a government plan to reopen previously unprofitable gas fields comes into effect.

Tamim, a teacher at the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, said that once new fields are found it would be up to state regulator Petrobangla to decide on exports, as the committee's remit was limited to investigating the current situation.

The committee was set up soon after Prime Minister Khaleda Zia's Islamist-allied government came to office last year.

It is tasked with giving guidelines to the government on the possibility of exporting the impoverished South Asian country's major natural resource to neighboring India by means of a pipeline.

Major oil companies, including Unocal of the United States, Chevron, Texaco, Shell and Ireland's Tullow, along with other smaller Western oil exploration firms, have been pressuring successive governments to export natural gas.

The companies have even indicated that they may have to close down exploration unless they begin deriving revenues from exports.

International companies were allowed to explore natural gas fields in Bangladesh by former prime minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed, but have not been permitted to export.

Zia had said that any decision on exports would be taken after considering findings from the National Committee on Utilization of Natural Gas, which comprises energy experts.

Tamim said the report would be presented to Zia in the next few days and that the government would then decide on the issue.

The export of gas is a sensitive political issue in Bangladesh, with many groups opposing the move for different reasons.

Zia's current ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party had also opposed the move until coming to office.

The main opposition Awami League Party of Sheikh Hasina maintains it would not permit the export of natural resources, saying it would not be in the national interest and that a 50-year reserve must first be ensured for Bangladesh before exports could be considered. Left wing parties and several other groups have warned the government against exporting gas, saying it would be "following a subservient foreign-policy."

Finance Minister Saifur Rahman has said he favored the export of gas as there was no point keeping it "under the soil," but the cabinet would make a decision based on global and domestic economic considerations.

The country had a proven recoverable gas reserve of 13 trillion cubic feet (390 billion cubic meters) of which more than 23 percent has already been extracted, according to official figures.