Energy & Power

WORLD WATCH

Myanmar Inks 2 Joint Onshore Exploration Deals

Myanmar's state-run Myanmar Oil & Gas Enterprise (MOGE) has signed a contract with Russia's Silver Wave Sputnik Petroleum Pte. Ltd. and Singapore's Silver Wave Energy Pte. Ltd. for the joint exploration of an onshore block in the Ziphyutaung-Nandaw region in northwestern Myanmar.

Awarded Block B2 in the Hukaung Valley of Kachin State, is one of six inland blocks in the northern and delta regions that Myanmar reserves for foreign companies. The others are Blocks A-1 and B-1, in Kachin State's upper Chindwin River region in Hukaung Valley, and Blocks O, P, and Q, in the Ayeyawady (Irrawaddy) delta region.

International oil companies from Australia, Britain, Canada, China, Indonesia, India, South Korea, Malaysia, Russia, and Thailand hold investments in Myanmar's oil industry. Companies currently operating onshore are India's Essar Oil Ltd, Focus Energy Ltd., MPRL Exploration & Production Pvt. Ltd., Goldpetrol, China's CNOOC and Sinopec Oil Co and Chinerry Assets.

The country is estimated to have 3.2 billion bbl of crude oil reserves, official statistics indicate, and proved reserves of 18.012 TCF of gas on and offshore.

The latest awards follow a gas deal earlier in the month with Rimbunan Petrogas Ltd. and Singapore's UNOG Pte. Ltd.

Myanmar has 19 fields onshore and three main large offshore oil and gas fields. The country's military rulers have awarded many contracts in the past two months for natural gas exploration after major gas discoveries were made in the Gulf of Bengal.

In February, Daewoo International Corp. of South Korea signed with MOGE for the joint exploration, drilling, and production of oil and natural gas on Block AD-7 off Arakan State.

In January, China National Petroleum Corp. International Ltd. and MOGE signed a contract to explore for oil and gas in deep sea Blocks AD-1, AD-6, and AD-8—also off Arakan.

India Invites Global Investment for Electricity

Indian Power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde invited energy service, equipment and appliance manufacturing companies from the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) region and the rest of the world to exploit the huge commercial opportunities being thrown up by India’s electricity sector.

Inaugurating a two-day international conference at Delhi on "Emerging Investment Opportunities in the South Asian Power Sector," organized jointly by Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, South Asia Regional Initiative (SARI) for Energy, USAID and the SAARC Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI), Shinde said, "We need more than just one manufacturer for the manufacture of equipment such as turbines and boilers, especially for the units of the size of ultra mega power projects. We have therefore established a manufacturing arm of National Thermal Power Corporation that will address the issue".

Shinde said the Indian government was laying special emphasis on energy efficiency projects which could lead to a saving of 73 percent of energy consumption.

The Bureau of Energy Efficiency, he said, had initiative several steps in the areas of energy conservation for the industry, domestic sector, commercial establishments and in agriculture.

"This will lead to creation of opportunities for organizations which could conceptualize energy efficiency projects and implement them. Already manufacturers of a number of energy efficiency equipment and appliances have started expanding their capacity," he pointed out.

The minister said the government’s latest initiative in generation was to secure low cost power through economies of scale and a competitive environment has met with considerable success.

The inaugural session was also addressed by Robyn McGuckin, Regional Coordinator Program Manager, SARI for Energy, USAID; Dasho Sonam Tshering, Director General, Department of Energy, Government of Bhutan; and Waqar Ahmed, Director, SCCI, among others.

Reliance Spends $9B on Gas Field

India's largest conglomerate Reliance Industries Ltd. said it will invest $9.2 billion to produce and pipe natural gas from fields around the country's southeastern coast.

"The company will begin producing 40 million cubic meters per day by June 2008 and raise it to peak output of 80 million cubic meters in the next five months," said P.M.S. Prasad, chief of the company's oil and gas arm.

Prasad also said the company will plough $5.2-billion into production in the Godavari river basin where it won exploration and extraction rights from the Indian government.

The company will invest $4-billion dollars to lay a 1386-kilometre pipeline from the southeastern state of Andhra Pradesh to western Gujarat state to transport the natural petroleum gas, he added.

The company owns the world's third largest refinery in Gujarat's Jamnagar city, where it produces 33 million tons a year of refined products -- petrol, diesel, kerosene and liquefied petroleum gas -- and petrochemicals.

Reliance has dominated India's economy for decades with activities in petrochemicals, oil and gas, refining, power, insurance and telecommunications.

Japan Discovers Large Methane Hydrate Deposit

Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry reported a methane hydrate discovery of some 1.1 trillion cu m of estimated gas in place in a section of the Nankai Trough about 50 km off eastern Japan.

The figure includes recoverable and unrecoverable gas in natural methane hydrate in the area, the METI statement said. State-run Japan Oil, Gas & Metals Corp. (JOGM) assessed the 5,000-sq-km area as part of a project to draw gas from the hydrate.

As a result of the find, METI said it will broaden the scope of its exploratory efforts in Japan's coastal seabeds, which are thought to hold substantial deposits of methane hydrate which as yet cannot be produced economically.