The Yadana Gas project has begun drilling more wells in its offshore M-5 and M-6 blocks to keep its level of high production on track until 2020.
Union Minister for Energy U Zeya Aung visited the field yesterday, where he assisted with the launch of the new wells.
The Yadana Gas project is a joint-venture between the Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise under the Ministry of Energy and Total E&P Myanmar Company, established in 1992. The project exports more than 500 million cubic feet of gas per day while supplying 200 million cubic feet of gas for domestic consumption every day.
During his visit, the Union minister and general manager Xavier Preel of Total E&P discussed the firm’s production, corporate social responsibility and plans for to boost gas production.
The joint-venture firm has spent about U$38 million so far on education, health, agriculture and the construction and maintenance of basic infrastructure as part of its corporate social responsibility, which is meant to ensure the benefit of people living in the vicinity of the project, since 1995.
The production-sharing contract for the Yadana natural gas project will expire in 2020.
The firm accounts for 50% of Myanmar’s energy consumption, while the remaining 50 per cent is from the Zawtika project, the Shwe gas pipeline and onshore blocks.
Myanmar’s individual consumption of electricity stands at 222 kilowatts, with demand for power increasing by 15 per cent annually, due to the rising number of factories and workshops and the rising population.
Official statistics show that 66 per cent of electricity comes from hydropower stations, 29 per cent from gas-fired power stations, 3 per cent from coal-fired power stations and the rest from wind, solar and biomass sources.
Myanmar’s installed electricity capacity rose from 3,400 megawatts in 2010 to 5,089 megawatts in 2015, supplying power to 15,000 of 60,000 villages across the country.
The National Electrification Plan, conducted in partnership with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) since 2012, aims to enable all parts of the country to have full access to electricity by 2030.
The plan has covered 33% of the whole country, said U Maw Tha Htwe, Deputy Minister for Electric Power.
“Much remains to be done to meet the target as only one third of the population lives with electricity,” he said.—
Source: Global New Light of Myanmar
