Graphic of the Yadana offshore gas field in the Gulf of Mottama.

Yadana
THE offshore Yadana gas project was discovered by Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise in the Gulf of Mottama in 1982 and provides much of the nation’s energy needs. French company Total is the operator of the project, which exports 600 million cubic feet of gas a day (mmcfd) to Thailand.

Gas exports from the project began in July 1998 and the gas sales agreement signed between Total and the government will run for 30 years.

Yadana’s major shareholders are Total Myanmar Exploration and Production, Unocal (United States), PTTEP International Limited (Thailand) and Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise of Myanmar (MOGE).

Yetagun
YETAGUN natural gas field was discovered when Appraisal Well 1 was drilled by Texaco Co. (United States) at the M-12 offshore block in November, 1992; it is also located in the increasingly lucrative Gulf of Mottama region and covers the M-12, M-13 and M-14 blocks.

Development of the project started in 1996-97 but Texaco elected to sell its entire interest and transferred operatorship to Premier in 1997. Premier sold it entire share to Petronas, a Malaysian oil and gas giant, in 2002.

Gas extracted from the project starting flowing to Thailand in 2000 at about 200mmcfd. In 2004 this figure was doubled after four new wells – producing 145mmcfd – were added.

With the new wells, overall production climbed to 500mmcfd, with 400mmcfd exported to Thailand.

Yetagun is operated by Petronas, with MOGE and Thailand’s PTTEP the other major shareholders.

A-1 and A-3 gas fields
THE A-1 natural gas field is locate offshore of Rakhine State and the measurement of the block is 3,885 square kilometres.

Daewoo discovered the first commercial natural gas deposits, at Shwe prospect in A-1 block, in January 2004. An additional gas discovery was later identified in A-1 block at Shwe Phyu in 2005 and another gas resource was discovered at Mya in A-3 block in 2006. According to the third party assessment, Shwe, Shwe Phyu and Mya hold about 4.5 trillion cubic feet in total.

Daewoo has a 51 percent stake in the consortium, followed by India’s Oil and Natural Gas Corp with 17pc; Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise with 15pc; India’s GAIL with 8.5pc; and South Korea’s Korea Gas Corp with 8.5pc.

M-9 offshore block
THIS newly-discovered field in the offshore M-9 block, in the Mottama Gulf, is located about 300 kilometres south of Yangon. The block was discovered by Thailand’s PTTEP when it conducted an aggressive drilling campaign in the block earlier this year.

Natural gas is expected to start flowing from the site in 2011 or 2012 and is likely to be sold domestically, with a portion destined for export to Thailand.
PTTEP has held a production-sharing contract with Myanmar since 2003 and has total control over the M9 blocks.

PTTEP is currently buying about 1000mmcfd from Myanmar’s Yadana and Yetagun gas fields via pipeline to Thailand. The M-9 block is expected to produce 300mmcfd.

The Thai company has signed a Head of Agreement contract with the Myanmar government to develop the gas field. Under the agreement, 240mmcfd of the 300mmcfd will be exported to Thailand while the rest will be supplied for domestic use in Myanmar.