NEWS - Unocal sees Yadana Q4 2000 o

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Subject: NEWS - Unocal sees Yadana Q4 2000 output at 525 mln cfpd

Monday October 18, 2:27 am Eastern Time

Unocal sees Yadana Q4 2000 output at 525 mln cfpd

SINGAPORE, Oct 18 (Reuters) - Unocal Corp (NYSE:UCL - news) expects to
raise production at Myanmar's
Yadana gas project to 525 million cubic feet a day (cfpd) by the fourth
quarter next year, the firm's chairman said
on Monday.

Unocal Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Roger Beach said current
production at the field was very small, something around two million
cfpd, but there were ample availabilities to meet the demand at
Thailand's Ratchaburi power plant when it starts operation.

``About August 2000, we will have the full thing (Ratchaburi), that's
the latest EGAT (Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand)
projection,'' he
told Reuters in an interview.

``So we're probably talking about 525 million cubic feet a day by the
fourth quarter of next year.''

``We have plenty of supplies sitting around, it's just a matter of
opening a valve,'' he said.

In August, Petroleum Authority of Thailand (PTT) source said EGAT might
delay taking gas from Yadana field until December rather than the
third quarter as earlier planned.

PTT signed a 30-year contract with the Yadana producers to start taking
gas from the offshore project in Myanmar from August 1998 to use as
fuel for EGAT's Ratchaburi plant in western Thailand.

The contract required PTT to take an initial 65 million cfpd, rising to
525 over 15 months. PTT has completed the pipeline to deliver the gas
from
the Thai-Myanmar border, but the completion of the Ratchaburi plant has
been delayed repeatedly.

The Yadana field is operated by a consortium led by France's Total and
includes PTT Exploration and Production and Unocal.

Beach said no Yadana production currently is going to Myanmar, but that
it could be considered.