Unocal May Supply Gas From Dhaka, Myanmar

Unocal Corporation is in the process of finalising its plans for supplying natural gas to India from its fields in Bangladesh and Myanmar, where it expects to start production by mid-1998.

Unocal Bharat Limited, its Indian subsidiary, is planning to lay pipelineas in the country to transport gas to various consumption centres in view of the countrys huge energy needs and the possibility of the parent supplying the gas from its neighbouring fields.

In 1996, Unocal had signed a farm-in agreement giving it a 50 per cent working interest in a production-sharing contract covering three million acres in North-East Bangladesh.

Its three blocks include the Jalalabad field. The joint venture has a sales contract for initial delivery of 100 million cubic feet of gas per day beginning mid-1998.

In Myanmar, Unocal and its partners have discovered two potentially significant gas-bearing sand structures adjacent to the famous Yadana field.

The partners are now evaluating the commercial viability of these. Unocal has a 28.26 per cent working interest in these two discoveries.

Unocal feels that being close to these two countries, India offers an excellent market for the gas produced by it in the region.

Moreover, the demand for natural gas is expected to multiply at a rapid pace in the near future.

According to Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL) estimates, while the supply of gas would continue to hover around 65 million standard cubic metres per day (mmscmd), the demand would increase to 280 million standard cubic metres per day by 2009-10.