Oil and gas independent MPRL is evaluating three options to exploit the multi-trillion cubic feet of gas discovered on its Block A-6 off Myanmar, two of which would utilise existing infrastructure and see some of their volumes exported, writes Amanda Battersby.

The three concepts on the table for the Shwe Yee Htun field are a tie-back to Total’s producing Yadana field, as possible backfill to future declining output.

From the Yadana facilities, Block A-6 gas would be piped to customers near Myanmar’s commercial capital Yangon and also to neighbouring Thailand.

Option two would be a tie-back to Posco Daewoo’s Shwe gas field, with A-6 gas used both for local power generation and exported to another neighbour China.

The third possibility for Block A-6, which is at the pre-front end engineering and design phase, is as an onshore tie-back with gas flowing to customers in and around Pathein, Yangon and Mawlamyine.

This area is home to around half of Myanmar’s population and 75% of its existing industry. This last option could also see excess gas, if available, being exported to Thailand, according to Sithu Moe Myint, MPRL’s Myanmar country manager.

Block A-6 in the southern Rakhine basin is also home to the Pyi Thit-1 discovery, which tested 50 million cubic feet per day of gas, and the 2012 Pyi Thar find.

Pyi Thar opened a new gas play in contrast to the Bengal fan elsewhere in the Bay of Bengal in Myanmar.

Block A-6 partner Total earlier said that 3D seismic surveying was planned for early this year and it be followed by more wells before the end of 2018.

Partners in the Block A-6 production sharing contract are operator MPRL on 20%, technical joint operator Woodside Energy with 40% and Total, also on 40%.

Myanmar government officials last week said that Naypyidaw has reversed its earlier stated — and oft repeated — decision that new field developments would have to commit their gas to the domestic market until local demand was met.

“We are going to [continue to] allow exports,” said Zaw Aung , director general of the Ministry of Electricity & Energy's oil and gas planning department.

“We need the money,” he told the OTC Asia 2018 conference, adding that liquefied natural gas imports would be used to meet burgeoning future domestic demand while Myanmar's indigenous volumes could flow across its borders.

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Three options for A-6