Regional LNG: Indian firms seek stake in Myanmar block, eye LNG: Report
Thursday, August 5 2004 - 01:40 PM WIB
South Korea's Daewoo operates and owns 60 percent of Myanmar's gas-rich A-1 block, in which India's Oil and Natural Gas Corp Ltd. holds 20 percent, while GAIL India Ltd. and Korea Gas Corp. hold 10 percent each.
Daewoo 's 100-percent-owned A-3 block is close to A-1, which could hold six trillion cubic feet of recoverable gas.
"ONGC and GAIL officials are in Myanmar and are seeking a combined stake of 50 percent in the A-3 block," a top Indian oil ministry official told Reuters. "If Indian companies get enough gas between A-1 and A-3 blocks, then we are in the market for LNG."
India would build an LNG terminal on its east coast if 2.5 million tons of LNG was available from India's share in the blocks, he added.
India already operates an LNG terminal on the west coast and another import facility, being built by Royal Dutch/Shell, is expected to be built in the next few months.
In June, Myanmar said it planned to build its first terminal to export natural gas from 2007 and that the $3 billion project had attracted interest from South Korean and Indian companies.
India is also considering a pipeline from Myanmar running across Bangladesh. But officials say the project involved complex negotiations with Bangladesh, which has so far refused to export its own gas to India, saying it must first ensure it had enough reserves to meet domestic demand for 50 years.
Bangladeshi officials said in June, however, that the country was not totally opposed to a pipeline over its territory, if it offered a "win-win" situation for both Dhaka and New Delhi.
Bangladesh would earn $125 million a year if the pipeline was built, officials said.
India is also in talks on exporting diesel by road to Myanmar, but the two sides have not been able to agree on a price, Indian officials say.
Cooperation in the energy sector is likely to be discussed in a regional economic cooperation group, BIMSTEC, which includes Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand.
India, Sri Lanka and Thailand plan to charge no tariffs on each others' goods and services by July 2012, five years ahead of much poorer Bangladesh, Myanmar, Nepal and Bhutan.
Other areas of cooperation for BIMSTEC include interconnection of electricity and natural gas grids and renewable energy technologies. (*)