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SLORC says sees yadana gas pipeline



Subject: SLORC says sees yadana gas pipeline on schedule

Friday July 4 4:56 AM EDT 

Burma says sees Yadana gas pipeline on schedule

BANGKOK, July 4 (Reuter) - Burma said on Friday that a project to lay a
pipeline to transport
natural gas from the offshore Yadana field overland to Thailand would be
completed by the end of
May or the beginning of June 1998, as scheduled. 

``Everything is going well and so far 95 percent of the total works on the
Burmese side is
completed. I'm certain that supply could start from July 1 next year with no
delay,'' said visiting
Burmese Energy Minister Khin Maung Thein. 

Many in the industry had feared that the controversial pipeline project
might be delayed because a
section of it passes through a southern area controlled by Burmese Karen and
Mon guerrillas
fighting for autonomy from the military government. 

The Burmese pipeline will connect with one being built on the Thai side in
the border province of
Kanchanaburi and on to a power station in central Ratchaburi province. 

Environmentalists have vehemently opposed the Thai pipeline because a 50-km
(31-mile) stretch
of it would run through lush forests, and they say it would harm the flora
and fauna. 

The total length of the pipeline from Yadana to the Thai terminus will be
699 kms (434.08 miles). 

The state-run Petroleum Authority of Thailand (PTT) will have to pay 1.54
million dollars in daily
fines to Burma if the project is delayed. 

The Yadana project initially will provide 325 million cubic feet per day
(mmcfd) of natural gas to
Thailand in 1998. Under the 30-year contract, that will increase to 525
mmcfd in 1999. 

Yadana's gas in place is estimated at more than five trillion cubic feet. 

PTT Exploration and Production Plc (PTTE.BK), a unit of PTT, owns 25.5
percent of the field,
Unocal (UCL) of the United States has 28.26 percent, Total SA (TOTF.PA) of
France 31.24
percent, and Burma's state-run Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise 15 percent.