Myanmar NEWS

Japanese trading house Mitsubishi has followed suit with its project partner Malaysian state-owned oil and gas company Petronas to step away from a $700 million offshore gas project in Myanmar

French oil and gas group Total said it would not stop producing gas on its Yadana fields in Myanmar as long as operations remained safe, in part to protect employees there who might otherwise risk repercussions from the military junta.Total has come under pressure from rights groups and Myanmar's parallel civilian government to review its operations amid allegations its payments on taxes were funding the military-controlled state.

The Government of India revealed its proposal to invest $6 billion to build a petroleum refinery project in Myanmar’s Thanlyn region near Yangon. It is aimed at strengthening India’s ties with Myanmar, propel their cooperation in the energy sector and diplomatically counter Myanmar’s dependence on infrastructure development from China.

Myanmar's Union Minister for Electricity and Energy last week laid emphasis over increasing yield from onshore oil and gas fields using modern technology as the production dips from the fields. Speaking at a coordination meeting, the union minister stressed over the need to repair and upgrade the current oil refineries and construct more petrochemical factories to generate enough fuels. Production from Myanmar's oil fields has decreased over 90%.

Danish drilling contractor, Maersk Drilling has landed a contract for its Maersk Viking for a three-well drilling campaign, offshore Myanmar. The contract was awarded by Korean operator, POSCO International Corporation. The $33 million-contract is projected to begin by the end of 2019 and will continue for an estimated 154 days. The contract also includes an additional one-well option.

Posco International has awarded a FEED contract to EPC giant, McDermott International for the development of the Shwe Phase 3 gas field, offshore Myanmar. The contract requires McDermott to carry out FEED services for a new compression platform, a bridge link, and reformations in existing platforms. The work is slated for completion by the second quarter of next year.

Myanmar’s Ministry of Electricity and Energy (MOEE) on Friday announced that the tenders for the country’s offshore oil and gas production will be floated by the end of this year. Though international oil and gas companies will have access to the tender rounds, the rule that necessitates them to partner with local players for operations will most likely be relaxed. Myanmar presently holds 53 onshore blocks and 51 offshore blocks.

POSCO DAEWOO Corp. has handed a contract relating to phase two of the Shwe gas field development, offshore Western Myanmar, to McDermott International, Inc. and BHGE. The McDermott-led consortium won a FEED competition in 2017 followed by the execution of EPCIC tender, leading to the award of this project. The scope of EPCIC covers subsea umbilicals, risers, and flowlines (SURF) and subsea production systems (SPS) for an eight-subsea-well development.

India has proposed to build a pipeline from it’s east coast to deliver oil products to Myanmar. Zaw Aung, DG of the Ministry of Electricity and Energy’s oil and gas planning department said, “We have already connected (oil and gas) pipelines to China and Thailand, and we considered connecting (oil) pipelines to India as well as Bangladesh. This is under consideration to share petroleum products,” at the OTC Asia Conference.

McDermott International, the US engineering and construction company, is all set to bid for $5 billion contracts in the Asia Pacific as the region’s offshore oil and gas sector is slowly recovering. The company plans to place 20 bids for projects in Malaysia, India, Australia, Vietnam, Indonesia and Myanmar. Steady global oil prices with marked cost reductions in the upstream sector are encouraging companies to expand investments.