Bangkok Post: January 17, 1998: GAS

[suriya@xxxxxxxxxxxx]

January 17, 1998
 GAS PIPELINE PROJECT

              Thai team in
              Burma for
              pipeline talks

              PTT officials tell of construction delay

              Senior Thai officials are in Burma for talks on a disputed gas
              pipeline project between the two countries, suspended on the
              Thai side amid a row over environmental damage, the Burmese
              media reported.

              The delegation, headed by the Petroleum Authority of Thailand's
              excutive director Viset Choopiban, held talks with Burma's
              Finance and Revenue Minister Khin Maung Thein on Thursday.

              The report did not provide further details of the talks, but
              Thai-based Burma watchers say PTT officials are likely
              explaining the delay in construction of the Yadana pipeline to the
              Burmese officials and seeking to review the contracted July
              completion date.

              The meeting was also attended by high-ranking officials from
              both sides, Television Myanmar reported in a broadcast
              monitored in Bangkok. Thai officials were not immediately
              available for comment yesterday.

              The pipeline, which is due to go online in July, is almost complete
              on the Burmese side of the border, while construction on the
              Thai side has been persistently delayed by protests.

              Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai ordered a three-day suspension
              of construction work on the project a week ago after a major
              outcry by environmental groups and local people opposed to the
              troubled scheme.

              Work resumed earlier this week, but the protests have continued
              unavbated with activists insisting on another suspension.

              They are demanding the route of the pipeline be revised on the
              Thai side of the border to avoid damage to some of the country's
              last remaining virgin forest.

              Khin Maung Thein, who attended Thursday's meeting, is a
              former energy minister who had played a major role in sealing
              the multi-million-dollar contract with PTT in 1996.

              In November he was replaced by Maj-Gen Lun Thi during a
              major shake-up of the ruling junta, and Khin Maung Thein was
              transferred to the finance and revenue ministry.

              Mr Chuan has appointed a 10-member legal committee to
              review the pipeline contract to see if any delay in the scheme
              would make Thailand liable for massive financial penalties.

              The PTT has said delays in the pipeline construction would make
              the company liable for heavy fines from its construction
              contractor and the consortium responsible for construction of the
              Burmese section of the project.

              The consortium comprises state-owned Myanmar Oil and Gas
              Enterprise (MOGE) and Nippon Oil as well as western oil giants
              Texaco, the United States' Unocal and France's Total.

              The 649-km gas pipeline is being built to connect Burma's
              Yadana gas reserve in the Andaman Sea to a power plant in the
              Thai province of Ratchaburi.

              The pipeline has been highly disputed from the beginning, with
              Burma's pro-democracy movement, led by opposition leader
              Aung San Suu Kyi, and international rights groups complaining
              about the involvement of western firms. - AFP