M Azizur Rahman

Myanmar has assured Bangladesh of considering export of gas from its newly discovered gas field at Rakhine coast.

But it suggested Bangladesh to wait for next five to six years when the field will be ready for production, officials said Sunday.

Myanmar's latest position over exporting gas was conveyed to a Bangladesh delegation that visited its new capital Naypiyadaw last week to hold bilateral talks with top government officials.

"They have informed us that drilling of wells in the recently discovered blocks near Bangladesh border will take five to six years. And only then it would consider gas export to Bangladesh," a senior energy ministry official told the FE Sunday.

A five-member Bangladesh team comprising representatives from energy and foreign ministries visited Myanmar from July 6-10 and discussed bilateral issues.

The Myanmar government in October 2008 assured Dhaka of exporting gas from any of its new discovery, when a high-powered delegation including its Energy Minister Brig General Lun Thi visited Dhaka.

Indian company Essar Oil recently discovered gas in blocks L and A-2 in Myanmar's Rakhine coast near Bangladesh border.

The Indian Essar Oil, under a production-sharing contract with Myanmar, already completed seismic survey and detected gas presence at the blocks L in Sittway area and A-2 in Mongdu area in Rakhine state.

"We held bilateral talks on importing gas following the assurance given by Myanmar," the official said.

Myanmar has also informed Bangladesh that it is struggling to meet its soaring domestic energy demands.

Myanmar's natural gas demand has increased to around 300 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) from 210 mmcfd a year ago, Myanmar has informed.

In the last week's bilateral talks, Myanmar also turned down a Bangladesh proposal to set up hydropower plant and bring in electricity from there.

Myanmar said that it would set up hydropower plant to meet its own mounting electricity demand, the official added.

Its electricity demand has recently soared to 2700 megawatts from the previous 1000 mw, Myanmar informed Bangladesh delegation.

Last year, Bangladesh initiated a move to import gas from Myanmar, which faced setback in the following month in November 2008, due to a dispute over an exploration work in block AD-7 by Korean company Daewoo International.

Myanmar has abundance of natural gas resources especially in its offshore areas.

Bangladesh produces around 1990 mmcfd of gas per day against the demands for over 2105 mmcfd.