ONGC finds gas in Krishna-Godavari basin

An India-Myanmar gas pipeline is in the offing, with Myanmar's Energy Minister Lun Thi meeting Petroleum Minister Ram Naik to discuss the issue.

The ministers will meet here today to consider the possibility of exporting natural gas to India from a newly-discovered gas field in north-west Myanmar.

The vast gas field has been discovered by an Indo-Korean consortium, comprising ONGC Videsh Limited, GAIL (India) Limited, Daewoo International Limited and Kogas.

The estimated recoverable reserve of the discovery is in the range of 4 to 6 trillion cubic feet (TCF) of gas, which is equivalent to 700 million to 1.1 billion barrels of oil.

GAIL has already announced plans of investing around Rs 4,000 crore to transport the gas from this field to India.

Under the production sharing contract (PSC), the Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE), a department of the government of Myanmar, has a 65 per cent share of the production, while the consortium reserves the right to market the remaining 35 per cent.

GAIL has a signed a memorandum of understanding with OVL and an understanding with Daewoo International Corporation to market the gas produced, in India. It is expected that GAIL will have access to around 2.1 TCF or more for the Indian market.

GAIL is also in discussion with MOGE for transporting the surplus gas after the domestic demands of Myanmar are met. The exploratory well, spudded in November 2003, produced gas at a significant rate under the drill stem test.

The commercial production from this field is expected to start by mid-2006. GAIL will spend the next 5-6 months assessing the availability of gas, the various transport options and the best route to adopt.

This transportation can be undertaken either through an offshore pipeline with the landfall point in south Bengal or through an onshore pipeline laid across Myanmar to enter India at a suitable point in Mizoram.

This pipeline would traverse the Northeast to finally emerge in north Bengal as a part of the National Gas Grid. The final route will depend on two more structures in the same block, which are being currently explored.

It will take about six months to determine their potential.