Narinjara news

Huge Myanmar Offshore Gas Field near Bangladesh

An offshore gas field near Myanmar’s border with Bangladesh could be significantly larger than Myanmar’s other two operating field and eventually be piped to India, a report here said.

The reserves could be more than double those found at either the Yadana or Yetagun gas fields, a report in the Myanmar times cited South Korea’s Daewoo International as saying.

There “is most likely around 13.4 to 47.3 trillion cubic feet of natural gas at the site where we are going to drill a test well in November next year,” H D Lee, deputy managing director of affiliate Myanmar Daewoo, told the weekly in its edition to be published Monday.

The reserves at yadana and Yetagun are 6.7 and 3.2 trillion cubic feet respectively, he was quoted as saying.

Daewoo international holds a major interest in an exploration project at the field, the report said, which plans to start seismic interpretation and geological surveys of the field off western Rakhine state in October.

The company reportedly signed a production-sharing contract with Myanmar’s Ministry of Energy in August 2000 and in January assigned 20 per cent and 10 per cent stakes respectively to India’s Oil and Natural Gas Commission and Gas Authority.

Depending on the quantity of gas found, the consortium will consider transporting the gas by ship or through a direct pipeline to India, the report added.

The issue of gas pipeline construction in Myanmar is controversial.

Last week France’s Total Fina Elf faced accusations that it had used forced labour in the construction of the Yadana pipeline, which carries gas from Myanmar to Thailand.
 In June, a US court ruled that a lawsuit against Unocal, a partner of Total Fina Elf on the pipeline, would go ahead this month.

The suit also alleges forced labour was used to build the pipeline.

Rights activities have estimated that the junta receives around 150 million dollars annually from the Yadana pipeline, cash that they allege bankrolls its. #

Note: the daily star mentioned it on 2nd September 02.