Mizzima News

Rangoon (Mizzima) - A Chinese company, called Chinnery Assents Ltd., will begin off-shore exploration along Burma's western coast, on March 23 where oil and gas prospects are a plenty for the requirement of energy-guzzling neighbouring economies.

Exploration in the area sparked a maritime controversy a couple of months ago between military-ruled Burma and its neighbour Bangladesh mainly because of the storehouse of energy.

“The company, a division of China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), is conducting 2D maritime seismic survey in deep-water offshore block AD-6, to tap natural gas,” said a company press release issued today.

The company's exploration – from March 23 to April 30 – borders block A-1, which is already being explored by South Korea's Daewoo International Corporation.

The Chinese company entered Burma’s offshore energy sector in January 2007, by signing a production sharing contract with military-run Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise to explore gas reserves in blocks AD-1, AD-6 and AD-8, which cover an area of 10,000 square kilometers off the Rakhine coast line in western Burma.

Chinnery Assets, which also acquired onshore block IOR 4 in central Burma, had found gas reserves that hold 300 billion cubic feet of gas.