The American oil company, Occidental, is pulling out of Bangladesh, where its natural gas operations are to be taken over by another American oil company, Unocal.

The company says it wants to concentrate on its operations elsewhere, including the Middle East.

Occidental is the latest company in recent years to withdraw from Bangladesh which has extensive reserves of natural gas.

The BBC Dhaka Correspondent says one reason is that the government has moved cautiously to open up its energy market to foreign competition.

Occidental's departure means that only two major foreign energy companies are still operating in Bangladesh.