Large natural gas deposit discovered off western Myanmar
Large natural gas deposit discovered off western Myanmar
Aye Aye Win Associated Press Yangon, Myanmar
A major natural gas field has been discovered in an area off western Myanmar being explored by a South Korean-Indian consortium, the state-run press reported on Friday.
The find in the Bay of Bengal could evolve into one of cash- strapped Myanmar's largest foreign exchange earners. Gas exports to Thailand already constitute a leading export.
The new find in Block A-1 off Myanmar's Rakhine state contains "a world-class commercial-scale gas deposit" estimated to hold 4.2 trillion to 5.8 trillion cubic feet of gas, with a topside potential of 14 trillion cubic feet, the New Light of Myanmar newspaper said.
Similar figures were given in reports on Friday in the South Korean and Indian press. Its actual value to Myanmar is impossible to estimate, however, because of fluctuations in energy prices and the lack of public details on the contract signed between the government and the exploration companies.
It takes several years to bring a field into production.
The block's exploration partners are South Korea's Daewoo International, also the operator, with a 60 percent share; India's ONGC Videsh with 20 percent; and Korea Gas Corp. and Gail India with 10 percent apiece.
Daewoo signed the exploration contract for the block with the state Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise in August 2000.
The find was being celebrated by the exploration partners as well as by Myanmar.
"Considering the annual consumption of Korea is about 1 trillion cubic feet, this is a tremendously huge amount of gas," an unnamed official at Daewoo was quoted as saying by South Korea's Joongang newspaper.
India's Financial Express quoted Gail chairman Proshanto Banerjee as saying "We are happy with the reported discovery and are looking forward to more such finds from the neighboring structures in the same block."
The discovery also represents a coup for regional oil companies in their rivalry with the Western majors.
After previously hermetic Myanmar began allowing foreign investment in 1988, the government has permitted foreign companies to conduct onshore as well as offshore oil and gas exploration.
But there is pressure from Western governments on companies based in their countries not to do business in Myanmar because of the military regime's poor human rights record and failure to restore democracy.
That pressure, along with legal sanctions - the United States has allowed no new investment for several years - have provided an opening for smaller, mostly Asian oil companies to invest in Myanmar.
However, the French oil company Total and Unocal from the United States retain big, long-standing operations in Myanmar.