Reliance, Oil India win two oil blocks each in Myanmar

Reliance Industries won two of the three offshore oil and gas blocks it bid for in Myanmar while ONGC Videsh Ltd drew a blank in the two areas it vied for.
RIL won shallow-water blocks M-17 and M-18 in Myanmar's maiden offshore licensing round in which Royal Dutch Shell, Chevron, Statoil and BG Group picked up most of the spoils.
Besides RIL and OVL, state-owned explorer Oil India Ltd and gas utility GAIL India had each bid for three exploration blocks in separate joint ventures with local companies.
Oil India, along with partners Mercator Petroleum Ltd and Oilmax Energy Pvt Ltd, won shallow-water blocks M-4 and YEB, according to Myanmar's Ministry of Energy. Like OVL, GAIL drew a blank.

Cairn India, which was among the 61 firms pre-qualified to bid for 11 shallow-water and 19 deep-water blocks in an international tender, did not bid by the December deadline.
Three shallow-water blocks were offered in the Rakhine Offshore Area, three in the Moattama Offshore Area and five in the Tanintharyi Offshore Area. Of the 19 deep-water blocks, 12 were in the Rakhine area, three in Moattama and five in Tanintharyi.

Confirming the award, RIL in a statement said both the M-17 and M-18 blocks are located in the Moattama basin in water depths of up to 3,000 feet and together cover an area of 27,600 square kilometres.

As per the process, RIL or its affiliates will enter into production sharing contracts, which will allow for initial preparation and study periods before committing to phase 1 of the exploration period.
"RIL's participation is in line with its strategy of portfolio rationalisation by expanding its international asset base by investing in regimes having attractive internationally competitive terms on offer. The company thus hopes to leverage its organisational capabilities and expertise to create value for the E&P segment," the statement said.
According to the ministry, BG will get two shallow-water and two deep-sea blocks, half of them as operator.
Anglo-Dutch supermajor Shell has been awarded deep-water blocks AD-9, AD-11 and MD-5 as operator, all alongside Japan's Mitsui Oil Exploration.

US giant ConocoPhillips won deep-water block AD-10 with Norwegian state-owned player Statoil as operator while Italy's Eni picked up deep-water blocks MD-2 and MD-4 on its own.
Total of France took deep-water block YWB. Ophir got deep-water acreage AD-3.
In the shallow water category, US supermajor Chevron picked up block A-5 while Berlanga Holdings picked up block M-8, ROC oil block M-7, and Transcontinental Group block M-15.