Myanmar is eager to have the natural
gas pipeline to India laid along the longer route through north-east India
bypassing Bangladesh, so that Yangon can forge closer economic and defence ties
with India.
Earlier, it was said that the proposed
Rs.8,500-crore gas pipeline from Myanmar to India may never materialise as
Yangon has concluded that its reserves in the A-1 block in the offshore area is
not enough to meet the demand of an export pipeline to India. India also backed
out from the $1 billion plus pipeline project due to bilateral issues with
Bangladesh, through which part of the pipeline would pass. Yangon wants India to
go forward with the alternative route as it would get a $20 million soft loan
and a power station. India, Bangladesh and Myanmar had signed the agreement in
February 2005.
ONGC Videsh Ltd and GAIL together hold
a 30-per cent stake, at four trillion cubic feet at A-1. In 2006, GAIL India Ltd
said it had completed a feasibility study for laying a 1,400 km pipeline at a
cost of $3 billion from Sittwe in Myanmar to Gaya in Bihar via Mizoram, Assam
and West Bengal. The pipeline would be constructed along the banks of Myanmar's
Kaladan river, an area with a population of over 1 million in which 98 per cent
do not have access to electricity. In case India agrees to this pipeline, the
accord would extend Yangon a soft credit of $20 million and set up a power plant
there. Negotiations are going on between India and Myanmar over gas pricing and
an agreement is expected by mid-2007.
Myanmar has natural gas reserves of
over 90 trillion cubic feet across 19 onshore and three major offshore fields,
making it a centre of attraction for countries like India, China, South Korea,
Thailand and Singapore.
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