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.