Tweet
Myanmar-India gas pipeline on anvil
By Siddharth Varadarajan
YANGON, JAN. 12 . A new chapter in the geopolitics of South Asia was opened on Wednesday when Energy Ministers from India, Bangladesh and Myanmar sat down together here to consider the proposal of evacuating Myanmar offshore gas to India via a pipeline traversing Bangladeshi territory.
"The meeting was unique, even historic, the commitment to promote the relationship is very substantial on all three sides," an official said. "But since this was the first such trilateral encounter, all of us agreed it was too early to sign a memorandum of understanding." Instead, the three countries have agreed in principle to the formation of a techno-economic working committee which will meet in Yangon within the next month and begin working towards an MoU to be signed in Dhaka by the three Ministers.
Broad consensus
Though there was broad consensus about the utility of such a venture, Indian officials told The Hindu there are minor differences between the three sides that still have to be bridged. This includes Bangladesh's desire to seek greater transit rights through India to Nepal and Bhutan for goods and electricity in exchange for the gas pipeline. Indian officials say they have no objection in principle to according Bangladesh enhanced transit facilities but that a trilateral encounter may not be the best forum to place the issue on the agenda.
Wednesday's meeting was attended by Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Mani Shankar Aiyar, the Myanmar Minister for Energy, Brig. Gen. Lun Thi, and the Bangladesh Minister of State for Energy, A.K.M. Mosharraf Hossain.
In the meeting, the Bangladesh delegation stated that Dhaka was interested in enhancing the scope of energy cooperation in the context of a broader framework of regional cooperation which includes Nepal and Bhutan. Though the Bangladeshis appear to have dropped their initial opposition to any Indian equity participation in the pipeline, they do want India to give an undertaking that it would allow Bangladesh "the use of corridors through India to transit electricity from Nepal and Bhutan as well as commercial goods."
Stumbling block
If this is one issue which will need sorting out, the Myanmar Government's desire to include Daewoo — the company operating its rich A-1 and A-3 blocks — in the trilateral working group could be another stumbling block.
Indeed, both Indian and Bangladeshi officials were surprised to see Daewoo executives sitting in as part of the Myanmar delegation at Wednesday's meeting. India and Bangladesh are of the view that the operating company can be brought into the discussion at a later stage but that it is up to the three Governments to take a decision on how the gas should be evacuated.
At Wednesday's meeting, the Indian side made a powerpoint presentation on eight options for evacuating the off-shore gas. These include four overland pipeline routes running from Tripura and Bangladesh into West Bengal, two shallow sea routes of about 400 km length within the exclusive economic zone of Bangladesh and one 700 km long deep-sea pipeline option. The technical and financial feasibility study of all seven pipeline options has been done by the Italian company Snamprogetti. The eighth option is on developed by a U.S. consultant, Energas, which would involve a new technology of loading liquefied natural gas (LNG) on to a specially-designed tanker which would convert the LNG into CNG en route in time to be pumped out at the destination port.
Mr. Aiyar said that the win-win option was for an overland pipeline, since this would allow Tripura's substantial gas reserves to be fed in as well provide Bangladesh an opportunity to wheel in gas from its own fields in the east of the country to the western regions where demand for it is the greatest. In addition, Bangladesh would earn about $125 million per annum in transit fees.
Though Mr. Aiyar wanted the proposed techno-financial committee to have a focused mandate, including evaluating the various pipeline options and making specific recommendations based on both technical and financial viability, it seems the working of the committee might initially be more open-ended.
-The Hindu
By Siddharth Varadarajan
YANGON, JAN. 12 . A new chapter in the geopolitics of South Asia was opened on Wednesday when Energy Ministers from India, Bangladesh and Myanmar sat down together here to consider the proposal of evacuating Myanmar offshore gas to India via a pipeline traversing Bangladeshi territory.
"The meeting was unique, even historic, the commitment to promote the relationship is very substantial on all three sides," an official said. "But since this was the first such trilateral encounter, all of us agreed it was too early to sign a memorandum of understanding." Instead, the three countries have agreed in principle to the formation of a techno-economic working committee which will meet in Yangon within the next month and begin working towards an MoU to be signed in Dhaka by the three Ministers.
Broad consensus
Though there was broad consensus about the utility of such a venture, Indian officials told The Hindu there are minor differences between the three sides that still have to be bridged. This includes Bangladesh's desire to seek greater transit rights through India to Nepal and Bhutan for goods and electricity in exchange for the gas pipeline. Indian officials say they have no objection in principle to according Bangladesh enhanced transit facilities but that a trilateral encounter may not be the best forum to place the issue on the agenda.
Wednesday's meeting was attended by Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Mani Shankar Aiyar, the Myanmar Minister for Energy, Brig. Gen. Lun Thi, and the Bangladesh Minister of State for Energy, A.K.M. Mosharraf Hossain.
In the meeting, the Bangladesh delegation stated that Dhaka was interested in enhancing the scope of energy cooperation in the context of a broader framework of regional cooperation which includes Nepal and Bhutan. Though the Bangladeshis appear to have dropped their initial opposition to any Indian equity participation in the pipeline, they do want India to give an undertaking that it would allow Bangladesh "the use of corridors through India to transit electricity from Nepal and Bhutan as well as commercial goods."
Stumbling block
If this is one issue which will need sorting out, the Myanmar Government's desire to include Daewoo — the company operating its rich A-1 and A-3 blocks — in the trilateral working group could be another stumbling block.
Indeed, both Indian and Bangladeshi officials were surprised to see Daewoo executives sitting in as part of the Myanmar delegation at Wednesday's meeting. India and Bangladesh are of the view that the operating company can be brought into the discussion at a later stage but that it is up to the three Governments to take a decision on how the gas should be evacuated.
At Wednesday's meeting, the Indian side made a powerpoint presentation on eight options for evacuating the off-shore gas. These include four overland pipeline routes running from Tripura and Bangladesh into West Bengal, two shallow sea routes of about 400 km length within the exclusive economic zone of Bangladesh and one 700 km long deep-sea pipeline option. The technical and financial feasibility study of all seven pipeline options has been done by the Italian company Snamprogetti. The eighth option is on developed by a U.S. consultant, Energas, which would involve a new technology of loading liquefied natural gas (LNG) on to a specially-designed tanker which would convert the LNG into CNG en route in time to be pumped out at the destination port.
Mr. Aiyar said that the win-win option was for an overland pipeline, since this would allow Tripura's substantial gas reserves to be fed in as well provide Bangladesh an opportunity to wheel in gas from its own fields in the east of the country to the western regions where demand for it is the greatest. In addition, Bangladesh would earn about $125 million per annum in transit fees.
Though Mr. Aiyar wanted the proposed techno-financial committee to have a focused mandate, including evaluating the various pipeline options and making specific recommendations based on both technical and financial viability, it seems the working of the committee might initially be more open-ended.
-The Hindu
Comment