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Articles Related to Burma on Public



Subject: Articles Related to Burma on Publications

(Bangkok Post)
June 10, 1997
BURMA GAS PIPELINE / NEW MOVE TO DEFUSE OPPOSITION



Offer to reduce width of pipeline

PTT worried about cost of delay

Suebpong Unarat


The Petroleum Authority of Thailand (PTT) is willing to reduce the width 
of its gas pipeline through fertile forests from 20m to 12-15m, Korn 
Dabbaransi, the Industry Minister, said yesterday.

The decision was reached at talks at Government House attended by Mr 
Korn, Chucheep Harnsawat, the Agriculture Minister, and and PTT 
representatives.

Opposition has recently intensified against the pipeline project which 
will start taking delivery of natural gas from the Yadana and Yetagun 
fields in Burma in mid-1998.

Opponents, including local environmentalists and NGOs, say the 260km 
pipeline will threaten the ecology and endangered wildlife species in 
Kanchanaburi.

Laying of the pipeline began in February but the PTT, the project 
leader, is afraid opposition will delay its 16.5-billion-baht project, 
forcing it to pay a daily penalty of 40 million baht to the Burmese 
junta.

The PTT has said the pipeline will go through only 6km of fertile 
forests.

Mr Korn said the narrower route would necessitate felling fewer trees. 
Moreover, PTT would cut as few trees as possible, removing some during 
construction and replanting after.

The Forestry Department would determine the trees to be felled and those 
to be removed to be replanted later, Mr Korn said, adding the PTT has 
agreed to the proposal and to shoulder the increased cost.

The PTT would employ a more advanced engineering technique and would not 
build the pipeline through forests during the rainy season to minimise 
the impact, he added.

GAS PROJECT / DANGER TO FERTILE FORESTS



Activists mount pressure on PTT to reroute pipeline

Wut Nontharit


Grassroots activists from Kanchanaburi have asked for support from the 
House Environment Committee to have the Petroleum Authority of Thailand 
(PTT) reroute its gas pipeline to avoid fertile forests.

Wisant Pongwitayapanu led a group yesterday to submit a letter to 
Ong-art Klampaibool, the committee's spokesman, on the request for 
support at parliament.

He said the 260-km gas pipeline running on the Thai side from Thong Pha 
Phum district to a power plant in Ratchaburi province would pass through 
one of the most fertile watershed forests in Asia.

"The pipeline is in a quake-prone zone and could also face terrorist 
attacks mounted by ethnic minorities. Kanchanaburi people would be 
forced to live in fear," he said.

The group proposes PTT lay the pipeline underwater stretching from the 
Yadana gas field in the Gulf of Martaban up to Bang Saphan district in 
Prachuab Khiri Khan province from where the gas could be delivered via a 
connecting land-based pipeline to Ratchaburi.

The pipeline on the new route would be 30% shorter and cost less, Mr 
Wisant said.

He also urged the House committee to examine PTT's spending on the 
project, alleging that money had been given to villagers living along 
the pipeline route and that PTT officials had been taking village 
headmen and members of local administration organisations from these 
areas on entertainment tours of Pattaya over the past two years.

The group also demanded the PTT reveal details of its contract signed 
with the Burmese government to prove whether the building of the 
pipeline on the Thai side would really have to be accelerated to meet 
the July 1998 deadline as it had claimed.

Mr Ong-art said the House committee would discuss the complaint as an 
urgent matter next week and invite the industry minister, the PTT 
governor and the Forestry Department chief to testify.


US drug agents return to Laos
Attack on transit routes ends 22 year absence 
Nusara Thaitawat
A drug expert from the United States is working with police in Laos to 
stem the flow of narcotics and precursors through the landlocked 
country.

It is the first time a representative from the Drug Enforcement 
Administration has been based in Laos since 1975 when Washington cut off 
aid following the communist takeover.

An official of the US embassy in Vientiane said the DEA agent, who 
starts this week, will be stationed at the mission and work with the 
narcotics police through the Lao National Commission for Drug Control 
and Supervision, a policy making body.

Laos is the world's third largest producer of opium, accounting for an 
estimated four percent output last year, after Burma, with 59 percent 
and Afghanistan 28 percent.

International drug experts generally agree that unlike Burma and 
Afghanistan, opium poppy cultivation in Laos is more socio-economic than 
political or criminal in nature.

But they are concerned about Laos's growing importance as a conduit for 
drugs and precursors between Burma, China, Vietnam, Cambodia and 
Thailand to the international market because it has limited resources to 
fight trafficking.

Thai authorities are concerned about mobile amphetamine factories 
operating in remote areas bordering Thailand and Burma. The Narcotics 
Control Board estimates 12-18 million amphetamine tablets have been 
smuggled into Thailand over the past six months. Most originated in 
Burma but came through warehouses believed to be in Laos.

The United Nations International Drug Control Programme (UNDCP) 
estimates that 90 tons of raw opium in Laos entered the illicit trade 
last year, an increase of 45-50 tons from 1992. This is due to a drop in 
local consumption and a slight increase in production driven by high 
prices.

Thibault le Pichon, director of UNDCP Laos, said: "It is estimated that 
most of the trafficking within the country is small-scale but the 
geographical location of Laos and its porous borders makes it a suitable 
route for international trafficking.

"Drug control efforts in neighbouring countries can encourage 
traffickers to shift their operation base elsewhere, thus placing Laos 
at additional risk," he said.

The US has contributed $15 million in Laos since 1989 on rural 
development and since 1992 when a formal drug co-operation agreement was 
signed, an additional $1 million was spent on counter-narcotics police 
training and equipment.

The US embassy official said: "The US considers Laotian co-operation on 
drug control to be excellent." She cited approval in November 1996 for 
the stationing of the DEA representative, co-operation in establishing 
counter-narcotics police units, the 1996 law raising penalties for 
trafficking up to life imprisonment and banning opium production.


Dateline Bangkok

------------------------------------------------------------------------


Burma decision bad for image 

At a recent meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Asean foreign ministers unanimously 
agreed to accept Burma, Laos and Cambodia as new members of the regional 
grouping. Upon his return to Thailand, Foreign Minister Prachuab 
Chaiyasarn said he hoped people in the seven Asean countries would 
support Burma's entry.

Mr Prachuab's statement showed that Thailand was not afraid of any 
repercussions from a US trade sanction against Burma, announced in May 
to show Washington's displeasure with the ruling Burmese military junta.

Reacting to the Asean decision, House foreign affairs committee member 
Noppadol Pattama (Democrat) said the grouping should delay the 
integration of Burma until the junta agreed to improve human rights and 
promote democracy in the country.

The junta's relentless suppression of pro-democracy groups, students and 
ordinary people has caused economic hardship in the country. Thousands 
of Burmese cross the border to look for jobs in Thailand every year. 
More than 20,000 Burmese students are also taking refuge in our country.

For years, Thailand has had to take care of these illegal Burmese 
immigrants, who work in factories, farms, and the fishing industry. They 
have taken away jobs that would have otherwise gone to Thai citizens.

The Thai government's support for Burma's entry runs counter to world 
opinion. It creates a negative image of our country. The disadvantages 
of our pro-Burma policy far outweigh its advantages because Thailand has 
to take care of hundreds of thousands of illegal Burmese who are living 
and working illegally in the country.

Editorial from Siam Post

YEAR-END '96 ECONOMIC REVIEW
A year of mixed fortunes

The volatile cost of oil, the continued thirst for energy and bids to 
secure long-term energy supplies characterised 1995, as Boonsong 
Kositchotethana reports.

<Picture: [Crude oil price movement 1996]>

Thailand's energy scene in 1996 could best be summarised as follows: 
higher fuel prices, a strong demand growth pattern and moves taken to 
arrest its current and future power hunger.

During 1996, Thai consumers needed to pay anything from 4-13% more for a 
litre, depending on the type of oil product. Local oil product prices 
reflected higher crude oil prices in the world market, which soared $3-4 
a barrel over the 1995 level. In turn, global oil prices rose in line 
with the stronger demand and rather tight supply caused by a number of 
reasons including US-Iraq tensions.

However, the Kingdom's strong growth in petroleum demand continued 
unabated, jumping 10.1% in the first nine months of the year to an 
average of 882,480 barrels per day.

On the supply side, the coming on stream of the country's fourth and 
fifth oil refineries have significantly transformed the supply 
situation, making Thailand self-reliant in oil refining capacity for the 
first time ever.

Efforts to secure long-term energy supply for Thailand have made 
progress.

A memorandum of understanding for a 30-year sale of natural gas from 
Burma's offshore Yetagun gas fields to the Petroleum Authority of 
Thailand (PTT) was signed.

Meanwhile, the laying of the controversial pipeline that will transport 
natural gas from Burma's Yadana gas field has started in earnest without 
any security threats from anti-Slorc elements.

<Picture: [Average selected crude oil price]>

The year saw interest in Thailand's petroleum prospects revive after a 
lull of many years with five international oil groups signing up for the 
rights to explore for and produce hydrocarbons both offshore and onshore 
Thailand.

The quest for petroleum in the Andaman Sea has resumed after more than a 
decade with Unocal Bangkok's kicking off a 1.2 billion baht exploration 
programme.

US energy firm Unocal has again recorded good success in its exploration 
for new gas reserves in the Gulf of Thailand with all 11 of its 
exploration wells drilled earlier in 1996 being declared commercial gas 
wells and in the process a new gas field was discovered.

On the other hand, Esso seemed close to concluding an accord to nearly 
double the sales volume of natural gas from its Nam Phong gas field in 
northeastern Thailand to PTT.

PTT's second gas trunk line that removes the bottleneck that has 
hindered gas supplies from offshore to meet the Kingdom's energy thirst 
was completed successfully.

At the same time, Thailand and Indonesia have expressed interest in 
cutting a deal on the sale of natural gas from Indonesia's Natuna gas 
field in the South China Sea.

Back in the Gulf of Thailand, the Thai-European concessionaire group led 
by France's Total is poised to inject an additional US$270 million (6.75 
billion baht) in capital for the next phase development of its offshore 
Bongkot gas field now being launched to raise the field's gas production 
capacity by 57.5%.

Still in southern waters, more and more gas discoveries were reported on 
the Malay-Thai continental shelves in 1996. It is certain that the 
entire natural gas production from the first two gas fields lying on the 
shelves will be sold and piped to energy-hungry Thailand.

During 1996, the US energy concern Unocal Corp announced a major plan 
that sees the continuation of its role as the biggest indigenous natural 
gas producer for Thailand for at least another 20 years.

Plans were announced to curtail its annual energy demand growth rate 
from 13% to below 10% during the Eighth National Plan (1997-2001) that 
started in October 1996.

Higher energy costs 

Crude oil prices for 1996 edged up over the previous year. Generally 
speaking, crude oil prices soared US$3-4 per barrel to an average of 
US$18-21 a barrel (bbl).

During the second half of 1996, crude oil prices jumped $3.5/bbl over 
the first half with prices reaching $22-25/bbl level in the first two 
weeks of December.

The higher crude prices reflect stronger global demand, especially in 
high economic growth countries like Taiwan, China, Thailand, India, 
Brazil, Mexico and Eastern Europe, and marginal growth in crude oil 
production.

The US-Iraq tensions in September and Opec's greater discipline to 
control its crude oil production, coupled with the fact that non-Opec 
producers have not raised their crude production significantly, 
contributed to higher oil prices.

The early arrival of winter in the US and demand for heating oil have 
also fuelled stronger energy demand in the wake of low oil product 
reserves. That led refiners to seek more crude oil supplies to meet oil 
product demand.

On the refined oil product market front, oil companies' moves to 
maintain a lower level of product reserves to cut costs have spurred 
more volatility in product prices.

Premium gasoline prices in the first 11 months of 1996 came to an 
average of $24.37/bbl, compared to $21.14/bbl average in 1995. High 
speed diesel oil prices jumped $26.57/bbl in the first 11 months of 1996 
versus $21.62/bbl in 1995.

In Thailand, oil products strengthened in parallel with the global 
movement. For instance, the high speed diesel oil price was 8.54 baht a 
litre in the first 11 months of 1996, up from 7.60 baht a litre in the 
previous year. Premium unleaded gasoline rose to 9.20 baht compared to 
8.87 baht a year before.

Oil demand soars

The growth pattern in Thailand's energy demand in the form of petroleum 
continued unabated in 1996. Official figures saw the country's petroleum 
demand, except those consumed by the petrochemical industry, jump 10.1% 
in the first nine months of the year to an average of 882,480 barrels 
per day.

The demand for refined oil products came to an average of 726,550 b/d, 
an increase of 10.4% over the same period the previous year. Consumption 
of indigenous natural gas, used in lieu of fuel oil, grew 8.7% to 
155,930 b/d of crude oil equivalent.

Consumption of all refined oil products except kerosene shot up in the 
period. Demand for diesel oil was 307,750 b/d (up 14.2%); fuel oil, 
172,970 b/d (up 5%); gasoline, 118,330 b/d (up 9.1%), aviation fuel, 
57,970 b/d (up 2.8%); LPG, 52,360 b/d (up 17.3%); kerosene, 1,750 b/d 
(down 0.6%); and other products including bitumen, lubricant and grease, 
15,420 b/d (up 20.9%).

It should be noted that the country's actual consumption of diesel oil 
may be 10% higher than the officially reported figures if the volume of 
smuggled oil distributed in the country was taken into account.

Stronger demand pushed oil imports up by 22.3% in the period to 778,400 
b/d, according to figures from PTT.

Imports of crude oil in the period jumped 36.9% to 610,350 b/d as two 
new oil refineries in Rayong, with an aggregate crude processing 
capacity of 275,000 b/d, were put on stream early in 1996. On the other 
hand, imports of refined oil products fell 11.8% to 168,050 b/d.

Increased crude oil imports have cost the Kingdom 83.45 billion baht in 
foreign exchange, up 56.6% from the previous year. Refined oil product 
bills in the period reached 26.75 billion baht, up only 2.9% from the 
same period in 1995.

Indigenous petroleum production in the period grew 10.8% to 269,400 b/d, 
consisting of 212,000 b/d of natural gas (up 10.8%), 24,800 b/d of crude 
(up 12.2%) and 32,600 b/d of condensate (up 9.4%).

<Picture: [National oil balance]>

Two oil refineries on stream

The scene for the Thai oil product supply market has changed 
dramatically in 1996 with the coming on stream of two new refineries in 
Rayong.

First to be completed, in January, was the US$2 billion (50 billion 
baht) oil refinery belonging to Rayong Refinery Co (RRC). It was joined 
in July with the $1.7 billion (42.5 billion baht) facility belonging to 
Star Petroleum Refining Co (SPRC).

The two facilities in Mab Ta Phut have added some 275,000 barrels per 
day (b/d) to oil refining capacity in Thailand. They made the Kingdom 
self-sufficient in oil refining capacity for the first time in history, 
although this created some surplus supply in gasoline.

The 145,000 b/d state-of-the-art refinery belonging to RRC was started 
up on New Year's Eve, three months ahead of schedule. RRC, owned 64% by 
Royal Dutch/Shell and 36% by PTT, was to begin full commercial 
production status in April.

SPRC, 64% owned by Caltex Petroleum Corp and 36% by PTT, commenced 
normal operation from its 130,000 b/d facility in July.

However, towards the third quarter of the year, sluggish seasonal oil 
demand partly caused by flooding and the influx of smuggled oil and 
oversupply in the regional market led most local oil refineries to 
curtail their crude run by 10-15% below capacity.

With the exception of SPRC, refiners like RRC, Esso (Thailand) Plc, Thai 
Oil Company and Bangchak Petroleum Plc cut back their production.

The cutback came as refiners tried to reduce the impact on the already 
over-supply situation, which was prevalent in the second half of the 
year when demand was seasonally slow as flooding in the Kingdom further 
aggravated the market.

Executives of major oil companies also took note of the continued, or 
perhaps the rise in, diesel oil import volumes by independent oil firms 
in the recent past, though local refineries have the refining capacities 
to meet the country's entire oil product demand.

The oil smuggling activity appeared to step up in in the second half as 
supporters and politicians themselves moved to accumulate more money to 
finance their election campaigns, or more specifically vote-buying, 
noted the executives.

The legitimate oil industry conservatively estimates the smuggled oil 
volume to be of the tune of 33,000 b/d, roughly 10% of Thailand's actual 
total diesel oil demand.

Esso chairman and managing director David Ledlie confirmed the cutback 
in production at Esso's Si Racha refinery and said the current regional 
demand had made exports of distillates from the refinery difficult.

He noted that the influx of smuggled oil had a significant impact on 
local refineries already hit by low margins.

However, Mr Ledlie hoped that Esso refinery would be able to resume 
maximum capacity in the last two months of the year when domestic demand 
was expected to pick up.

RRC spokesman Ponlerd Kositwongskul said RRC's refinery in Mab Ta Phut 
had run at about 130,000 b/d, or about 90% of its capacity, because of 
the unfavourable market environment in the recent past.

But it is a different story at SPRC where managing director Don Romano 
said the refinery had run at capacity.

Yetagun gas deal

Thai and Burmese energy officials signed a memorandum of understanding 
for a 30-year sale of natural gas from Burma's offshore Yetagun gas 
fields to PTT.

The memorandum was signed quietly in Bangkok on October 29 despite the 
growing criticism of foreign companies' dealings with the repressive 
Slorc regime. The European Union on October 28 imposed sanctions 
restricting visa applications in Europe for Burmese officials.

The document paves the way for the conclusion of the formal purchase gas 
contract now being finalised by PTT and the Yetagun gas developing led 
by the US oil firm Texaco.

The signing of the document followed a "joint statement" signed by the 
Thai and Burmese ministers on June 17 to reaffirm the two governments' 
support for the conclusion of of a 30-year gas supply accord.

The base Yetagun gas price including the cost of the pipeline at the 
Thai border is reported to be some US$3 per one million British thermal 
units (BTU). Delivery of the gas to PTT will begin in mid-1998 at the 
initial rate of 200 million cubic feet per day (MMcfd).

The Yetagun gas fields are located in the Andaman Sea about 270 km from 
Thailand and, according to PTT, have current reserves of 1.1 trillion 
cubic feet (Tcf).

Burmese Energy Minister Khin Maung Thein was quoted as saying that plans 
were under way to further develop Yetagun, located in the Gulf of 
Martaban south of Yadana, Burma's largest known offshore gas field.

The Yadana pipeline project that will transport the gas to Thailand via 
Kanchanaburi has been fraught with controversy, with human rights groups 
alleging that forced labour had been used to clear areas under 
development and that villages in the area had been relocated.

Khin Maung Thein said the charges were without foundation, adding that 
the Burmese government and foreign companies in volved in the project - 
Total of France and Texaco of the US - had ensured workers were paid 
fairly.




Yadana gas line moves

<Picture: [A proposed gas pipeline from Yetagun gas field map]>

The year 1996 saw the laying of the controversial Yadana gas pipeline 
across Burma's Mon State to the Thai western border province of 
Kanchanaburi start in earnest without any security threats by anti-Slorc 
elements.

Hundreds of big trucks, large construction vehicles and heavy equipment 
have been brought to the construction site, once a battle zone between 
Rangoon forces and the ethnic Karen and Mon.

Some 600 workers, including dozens of western expatriates, employed by 
the Yadana consortium led by the French oil firm Total are working hand 
in hand on the onshore section of the Yadana gas pipeline that stretches 
63 km from Daminseik coast to Thai western border village of Ban-E-Tong 
(Tongphaphum, Kanchanaburi) via Tavoy.

More than half of some 5,000 pipe sections, each weighing an average of 
five tons, have already been shipped from Kuantan, on the eastern coast 
of the Malay Peninsula, to the work site ready for the laying of the 
pipeline.

All major civil works to support the construction, including a small air 
strip, wharf, access road, base camp and main bridges over Heinze and 
Tavoy rivers were completed earlier.

The works have been moving on at a strenuous pace without any signs of 
disruption or fear on the workers' side of being attacked by armed 
anti-Rangoon forces.

The pipe-laying team, mostly Burmese, were not seen with arms and 
continued with their assignment unabated. Only a couple of armed Burmese 
soldiers were seen at strategic checkpoints near the onshore pipeline 
route.

Obviously, the area along the pipeline corridor, along which there are 
13 villages (total population 34,820), has been firmly secured by Slorc 
armed forces in the past year or so following one serious incident.

In March 1995, five members of the Yadana pipeline route survey team 
were killed and 11 wounded by heavily armed attackers in Kanbauk, near 
the western end of the pipeline. The attackers are believed to be part 
of the anti-Rangoon resistance force and all the victims were Burmese.

Since then there has been no reports of similar incidents as Rangoon 
forces appear to have exerted an all-out effort to get rid of the 
guerrillas and precaution steps have been taken by the pipeline team.

But expatriates working for the pipeline project are not allowed to 
stray beyond the "protected area." They need to routinely radio their 
working position to the Total base camp in Kanbauk, which can 
accommodate 600 workers.

Herve Madeo, general manager of Total Myanmar Exploration and 
Production, who supervises the Yadana gas pipe project, said the 
provision of security to the pipeline workers come under the direct 
responsibility of the Rangoon army as part of the commitment in the 
Yadana gas contract.

He insisted Total and its partners, including the US energy firm Unocal 
and PTT Exploration & Production Plc (PTTEP) of Thailand, had never had 
to pay a baht to Slorc to ensure safety for its operation.

The French executive said he had no idea how many Rangoon soldiers had 
been used to provide the protection.

The laying of the onshore pipeline on Burmese soil, perhaps the most 
troublesome phase of the $1 billion Yadana gas development scheme, looks 
poised to continue in high gear.

The onshore pipeline laying is expected to be completed in the current 
dry season ending in May 1997. The Yadana consortium officials appear to 
be certain about this.

Construction of the offshore pipeline, 346 km in length and 36 inches in 
diameter, is due to start in mid-1997 from the Yadana field, about 240 
km south of Rangoon in the Gulf of Martaban, to the Daminseik coast in 
the Mon State to connect with the onshore line. Installation of the 
offshore line is scheduled to be completed in early 1998.

Offshore platforms, now being fabricated by the US rig builder McDermott 
on Batam Island of Indonesia near Singapore, are scheduled for 
installation in 1997 to early 1998, according to Total.

Meanwhile, Songkiert Tansamrit, director of the corporate relations 
department of PTT, the Yadana gas buyer, also talked about the progress 
of the Thai section of the Yadana pipeline to be laid from Ban-E-Tong to 
the Ratchaburi power plant being built by the Electricity Generating 
Authority of Thailand.

He said the first shipment of the 42-inch steel pipes, 260 km in length, 
supplied by a Japanese consortium for the Thai section arrived at 
Sattahip port and were to be directed to the stockyard in Ratchaburi in 
December 1996. Laying work is scheduled to start early in 1997.

PTT and the government plan to stage a series of technical hearings on 
the Thai section of the pipeline with the participation of 
non-governmental organisations and environmental groups opposing the 
scheme.

Part of the pipeline will go over a watershed area with an "A-1" 
conservation status in the western Thai region. PTT said the most 
sensitive area would only be a 6-km stretch, from the kilometre posts of 
18-24, which previous studies classify as "jungle" in the true sense.

PTT has tried to avoid routing the gas line through the watershed area, 
and decided to adopt a detoured route - a decision that doubles the 
laying cost of the pipeline and extends the gas line by 10% against the 
shortest route.

Earlier in 1996, the Cabinet gave PTT clearance to lay the pipeline 
through the area. PTT is spending 16.9 billion baht to lay the Thai 
section.

The 30-year gas sale contract the Yadana group has entered into with PTT 
calls for an average delivery of 525 million cubic feet per day (MMcfd), 
starting in mid-1998, with a "swing" to boost the rate by 15% to 604 
MMcfd if so required by PTT.

Revival of upstream prospects

Interest in Thailand's petroleum prospects have revived after a lull of 
many years with five international oil groups signing up for the rights 
to explore for and produce hydrocarbons both offshore and onshore.

The interest has been spurred by the knowledge of the Kingdom's 
insatiable energy demand which provides a ready market for fossil fuels 
which might be discovered in their acreage.

Coming onto the scene are the consortium of Amerada Hess, Novus 
Petroleum Ltd and Kerr-McGee Corp, Anchutz Overseas Corp, Soco Thailand 
Inc, Cairn Energy Plc of the UK and Texaco Exploration.

Four of the six concession blocks awarded in the most recent 15th 
petroleum concession bidding rounds are in the northeastern region with 
two tracts lying in the Gulf of Thailand. All of the blocks are said to 
be gas prospective.

The centre of attention of the bidding round was the Industry Ministry's 
decision to award the B11/38 block, being sought after by four bidders, 
to Texaco. B11/38, covering 8,690 square kilometre, is considered highly 
attractive because of its proximity to the Pailin gas field being 
developed by Unocal Thailand.

Competing for the B11/38 hot spot were Dragon, Esso Exploration 
International, Unocal Bangkok Ltd and Texaco Exploration (Thailand) II 
Ltd. Unocal had partly explored the block, which it relinquished to the 
department several years ago.

According to ministry officials, the Amerada Hess/Novus/Kerr-McGee group 
was given two northeast blocks, namely 5340/38 (2,960 sq km) and 5440/38 
(2,960 sq km), both in Chaiyaphum, while the Anchutz Overseas Corp of 
the US won block 5441/38 (2,960 sq km), also in the general area of 
Chaiyaphum. Cairn Energy Plc is entitled to block 5643/38 (2,940 sq km).

The onshore tracts awarded in the last bidding round represent the 
renewed interest among international prospectors in Thailand's 
Northeast, which has generally been declared as gas prone. Esso 
Exploration has discovered a few gas structures and its Nam Phong gas 
field in Khon Kaen has been in production for more than a decade.

These new concessionaires are prepared to spend billions of baht to 
prove hydrocarbons in their acreages. Indeed, some of them intend to 
advance their exploration activities ahead of the timeframe specified in 
the terms with the ministry.





































































































"THERE WILL BE NO REAL DEMOCRACY IF WE CAN'T GURANTEE THE RIGHTS OF THE 
MINORITY ETHNIC PEOPLE.  ONLY UNDERSTANDING THEIR SUFFERING AND HELPING 
THEM TO EXERCISE THEIR RIGHTS WILL ASSIST PREVENTING FROM THE 
DISINTEGRATION AND THE SESESSION."  "WITHOUT UNDERSTANDING THEIR 
STRENGTH, WE CAN'T TOPPLE THE SLORC AND BURMA WILL NEVER BE IN PEACE."



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