BEIJING – CNOOC Ltd won’t pull out of Myanmar and may increase its footprint in the gas-rich country, a top executive said, rejecting criticism that China’s thirst for energy is undermining Western-led efforts to isolate Myanmar’s government.

Yang Hua, CNOOC’s chief financial officer, said the company’s presence in Myanmar is “making people’s lives better” by developing resources that would otherwise go untapped. He also pointed to simple commercial reasons to stay.

“If we pull out, then we can’t successfully invest our money in terms of exploration success,” Yang told The Wall Street Journal.

Yang also confirmed for the first time that CNOOC – majority owned by China’s government – is in talks with Thailand’s PTT Exploration and Production (PTTEP) about potentially swapping stakes in a string of offshore natural-gas blocks in Myanmar in order to share the investment risks and exploration costs.

“These transactions are very normal in the oil business. We don’t have any concrete things but discussions are going on,” he said.

A person familiar with the situation said PTTEP and CNOOC were discussing swapping as much as 20 percent in their Myanmar blocks and a deal could be sealed by the end of this year.

Meanwhile, PTT senior executive vice president Chitrapongse Kwang-sukstith told reporters earlier this month the company expects to sign a major gas deal with Myanmar this year which will allow Thailand to buy 300-400 million cubic feet per day from Myanmar.

“We still believe we will be able to sign a gas purchase pact from the Block M9 in Myanmar by the end of this year despite domestic turbulence there,” Chitrapongse told reporters in Bangkok.

– The Wall Street Journal, Reuters