Tuesday, 24 August 2010 20:17 Mizzima News
Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – Scant weeks after Burmese head-of-state Senior General Than Shwe paid an official visit to India, New Delhi may be on the verge of upping its level of investment into Burmese natural gas.
State-owned oil companies Indian Oil (IOC) and Oil India (OIL) are said to be in talks with the Mumbai-based Essar Group to take up joint 20 percent shares in the shallow-water (A2) gas block.
The Economic Times today reports that an Indian oil ministry official has confirmed recent visits to Essar by both IOC and OIL.
“They are considering to jointly pick up 40 percent stake in Essar’s gas block,” he said.
The field concerned is still said to be at the exploratory stage, with estimates of recoverable reserves yet to be determined.
Globally, Burma’s confirmed natural gas reserves are modest. As of 2009, the CIA listed reserves at 283 billion cubic meters, placing Burma 41st in the world and sixth among ASEAN states.
However, given the poor economic development in other sectors of the economy, the export of natural gas to Thailand alone is estimated to account for 40 percent of all export earnings.
Burma expert Derek Tonkin notes that it is a figure set to drastically rise once pipelines to regional giants China and India become operational.
The Economic Times quotes a figure of 13 trillion cubic feet of potential reserves in the (A2) bloc. If anywhere close to accurate, the figure sighted is well more than double the converted CIA data of known reserves.
According to the U.S. Geological Survey, 45 percent of the world’s gas reserves are yet to be discovered.
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
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