ONGC to sign contracts for 3 blocks in Myanmar
New
Delhi,
Sep
23:
State-run
Oil
and
Natural
Gas
Corporation
(ONGC)
will
sign
contracts
for
gas
exploration
in
three
offshore
blocks
in
Myanmar
today
during
the
visit
by
Petroleum
Minister
Murli
Deora.
Mr Deora will witness the signing of ''production-sharing contracts'' for three deep-sea blocks between the ONGC and Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise, an official statement said.
ONGC will have a 100 per cent interest in the AD-2, AD-3 and AD-9 deep-sea blocks -- off the Rakhine coast of Myanmar. The aerial extent of the blocks AD-2, AD-3 and AD-9 is 8,100 sq km, 9,900 sq km, and 7,800 sq km respectively.
''After his arrival at Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar today, Mr Deora accompanied by Petroleum Secretary M S Srinivasan and ONGC Videsh Ltd Managing Director R S Butola will meet his counterpart Brigadier General Lun Thi to discuss possibilities of enhancing bilateral cooperation in the hydrocarbon sector,'' the statement said.
Currently, total oil and gas production of Myanmar is about 10,000 barrel oil per day (bopd) and 820 million standard cubic feet per day (mmscfd) respectively, with total oil and gas reserves estimated at 50 million barrel (mmbl) and 10 trillion cubic feet (tcf) respectively.
Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise, the National Enterprise produces about 10,000 bopd and 120 mmscfd gas from onshore oil and gas fields. ONGC and country's state gas utility GAIL each already hold 30 per cent stakes in both the A-1 and A-3 offshore blocks in Myanmar, with the first gas supplies expected in early 2011.
In Block A-1, OVL and GAIL have 20 per cent and 10 per cent participating interests respectively. Gas discovery was made in 2004 and 2005 from Shwe and Shwe Phyu in block A1 which is about at 3.34 and 0.5 tcf respectively.
In Block A-3 also, OVL and GAIL have the same participating interests. Gas discovery was made in this block in January last year and the consortium has established a gas reserve of 1.52 tcf in the Mya Gas field.
India, which had been negotiating another three-billion-dollar deal to run a pipeline from Myanmar across Bangladesh to the eastern Indian city of Kolkata, lost out to China earlier this year.
UNI