PTTEP gets 'high flow' of Burma gas (dpa)

State-owned PTT Exploration and Production Co (PTTEP) of Thailand on Tuesday claimed to have found a "high amount of natural gas" in its offshore Zawtika-2 field in M9 Block in the Burmese Gulf of Martaban.

PTTEP President Maroot Mrigadat said the company's fourth well in the Zawtika-2 area had found natural gas with a flow rate of 109.5 million standard cubic feet per day (MMSCFD) on average, the highest rate of all wells drilled at M9.

The company is preparing to drill 4 or 5 more appraisal wells to confirm the primary data of M9 Block petroleum reserves, said the president.

Since early 2007, PTTEP has found natural gas in 4 exploration wells at M9, including in the Zawtika-1A, Gawthaka-1, Kaknonna-1, and the latest well Zawtika-2.

The flow rates have thus far been modest and no associated condensate has been tapped, according to PTTEP sources.

Nonetheless, PTTEP still plans to start production from the offshore are in 2011 or 2012, to be piped onshore and across the Thai-Burmese border to Thailand.

Burma currently supplies Thailand with 869 MMSCFD of natural gas, delivered by offshore and onshore pipelines from reserves in the Gulf of Martaban to Ratchburi province where it is used to generate electricity. Thailand's total use of natural gas is 3,222 MMSCFD, accounting for 37 per cent of its energy needs, 27 per cent of which comes from neighbouring Burma.

The majority of the kingdom's natural gas is supplied from offshore reserves in the Gulf of Thailand, but these are expected to start to decline within two years.

M9 Block is in the Gulf of Martaban about 300 kilometres south of Rangoon, the chief city in Burma.

Bangkok Post
Tuesday April 03, 2007