India hopeful of getting gas from Myanmar: GAIL CMD
Dailyindia.com / June 21, 2007

India is still hopeful of striking a deal with Myanmar for its energy sector, even after Yangon has indicated that it would sell gas to China, said Gas Authority of India Ltd. (GAIL) CMD Dr U D Chobey here on Wednesday.

Dr Chobey said though Yangon is looking for the best price, it cannot totally rule out New Delhi as India's state-run oil and gas companies hold stakes in two blocks of Myanmar.

He added state-owned GAIL and ONGC Videsh Ltd. hold 30 percent equity in the A1 and A3 blocks at the rate of 10 and 20 percent shares respectively.

He said that Bangladesh has been a hurdle to the construction of pipeline from Myanmar through northeast India, but after going for the new proposal of offshore pipeline, it (Bangladesh) is no more relevant, rather the constant availability of gas from Myanmar rigs is more important.

Chobey said that in the Myanmar gas project, India's competitors are China, Thailand and South Korea. However, since the distance between Korea and Myanmar is very large compared to China and Thailand, India's threat from that nation (Korea) is less.

China has no stake in the Myanmar's fields but South Korea's Daewoo International has 60 percent stakes and is the lead operator of the blocks, and the Korean Gas Company holds the rest.

The CMD also informed that GAIL is investing rupees 18,000 crores in the coming five years for further increasing its pipeline network in India.