Reliance and Oil India prepare for Myanmar
Reliance and Oil India will be flying to Myanmar at the end of this month (April) to review PSC terms for blocks won on March 26 in the country’s first offshore licensing round.
Reliance won blocks M-17 and M-18 in the Tanintharyi offshore area, while a consortium of Oil India, Mercator Petroleum and Oilmax Energy won M-4 in Moattama and the YEB block in Tanintharyi. “Once the terms are reviewed, we might sign the PSC as early as next month (May)," says a Reliance manager.
Oil India confirms its team is also travelling to Myanmar capital Nay Pyi Taw end-April to review terms with the Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE), equivalent to India's DGH. "After the PSC is signed, we’ll get six months to carry out Environmental Impact Assessments," says Oil India.
"The findings will be submitted to the Myanmar Investment Commission which will give the environmental clearance.” After securing environmental clearance explorers can buy MOGE data.
"MOGE will give us 12 months to study the data," adds Reliance. "After one year we can walk away without paying a penalty if we don't find the block interesting.
All we must spend is a few hundred thousand dollars on the environmental clearance and data fee." Phase-I exploration will last three years, with a provision for two one-year extensions.
