Daewoo says it finds record gas reserves in Myanmar
Friday, 24 August 2007
SEOUL, Aug 23 (AFP): Three offshore natural gasfields in Myanmar hold the largest reserves to be discovered in that country, South Korea's Daewoo International said today.
The blocks in the Bay of Bengal near the border with Bangladesh have been certified to hold up to 219.2 billion cubic meters (7.7 trillion cubic feet) of exploitable gas, Daewoo International said.
A spokesman told AFP the size of the reserves is a record for Myanmar and had been certified by international consultants Gaffney, Cline and Associates.
The reserves were certified as between 4.5 to 7.7 trillion cubic feet, he said, with the upper figure equivalent to Korea's total gas consumption for about seven years.
Daewoo has a 60 per cent stake in the fields. The state-run Korea Gas Corp owns 10 per cent and the remaining 30 per cent is held by two Indian firms-Gail India and Oil and Natural Gas.
Daewoo hopes to supply 600 million cubic feet of gas per day, or 3.7 million tons of liquefied natural gas per year, for up to 25 years, the spokesman said.
However, the company said it would be cheaper and quicker to pipe the gas to neighbouring countries. "We are in talks with potential buyers in China, Thailand and India," the spokesman said.
The Seoul government would like the gas to be liquefied and delivered to South Korea, which imports most of its oil and gas.
Economic sanctions imposed by the United States on Myanmar for its poor human rights record will not affect the project, the spokesman said.
The blocks in the Bay of Bengal near the border with Bangladesh have been certified to hold up to 219.2 billion cubic meters (7.7 trillion cubic feet) of exploitable gas, Daewoo International said.
A spokesman told AFP the size of the reserves is a record for Myanmar and had been certified by international consultants Gaffney, Cline and Associates.
The reserves were certified as between 4.5 to 7.7 trillion cubic feet, he said, with the upper figure equivalent to Korea's total gas consumption for about seven years.
Daewoo has a 60 per cent stake in the fields. The state-run Korea Gas Corp owns 10 per cent and the remaining 30 per cent is held by two Indian firms-Gail India and Oil and Natural Gas.
Daewoo hopes to supply 600 million cubic feet of gas per day, or 3.7 million tons of liquefied natural gas per year, for up to 25 years, the spokesman said.
However, the company said it would be cheaper and quicker to pipe the gas to neighbouring countries. "We are in talks with potential buyers in China, Thailand and India," the spokesman said.
The Seoul government would like the gas to be liquefied and delivered to South Korea, which imports most of its oil and gas.
Economic sanctions imposed by the United States on Myanmar for its poor human rights record will not affect the project, the spokesman said.