Top oil firms selected for 20 offshore blocks

The Ministry of Energy announced a final list of top oil companies selected for exploring oil and gas at Myanmar's 20 offshore blocks on Wednesday (March 26).

Global oil companies such as Shell, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Total E&P, BG, Woodside Energy and Oil India are among the selected firms.

For those 20 offshore blocks, of which 10 are in deep-sea waters, the government invited tenders last year. The short list of initially selected companies was last July.

Currently, there are at least 160 citizen-owned companies registered with the ministry of energy to cooperate with foreign firms in oil and gas sector.

The ministry said in the announcement that they are going to emphasize inland and offshore gas exploration to generate more profits from oil and gas, while reforming the offshore gas exploration sector.

Joint ventures between citizen-owned and foreign oil and gas businesses are exempt for export and import license application, according to the Ministry of Commerce.

Foreign investment in Myanmar's oil and gas sector reached over US$14 billion last January. It represents 31.71 percent of total foreign investment, according to the Ministry of National Planning and Economic Development.

source: Eleven Myanmar

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