Weekly Business Roundup

By WILLIAM BOOT

South Korea Bids for More Burma Gas Development


The South Korean government is promoting greater involvement in exploration and production of gas in Burma by Korean companies.

Agreement has been reached in principle for Korean lead development of two more blocks, one offshore and one onshore, while six other potential blocks are under discussion, said the semi-official South Korean news agency Yonhap this week.

It follows a visit to Burma by leading politicians from South Korea’s governing political party.

It’s understood that go ahead has been given by the state-run Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE) for Korean firms to take over development of the A-7 offshore block in the Bay of Bengal and the B-2 onshore block in northwestern Sagaing Division.


The offshore block was abandoned by the Indian state firm GAIL after the Burmese government chose Chinese firms instead of Indian to buy the huge gas tranche in the Shwe offshore field.

The B-2 Block is currently being probed by the small Russia-linked Silver Wave Energy company in partnership with MOGE.

Two blocks in the Shwe field, with a confirmed 200 billion cubic meters of gas, are being developed by South Korea’s Daewoo International industrial conglomerate and Kogas, both of which are partly owned by the Korean government.

New Zealand Accused of 'Weak' Effort on Economic Sanctions

New Zealand’s economic sanctions against the Burma military junta are weak and make New Zealanders complicit in abuses, human rights activists and some politicians have complained.

The New Zealand government’s sanctions are the “weakest against Myanmar [Burma] in the Western world,” said the country’s Green Party foreign affairs spokesman Keith Locke.

He criticized the sanctions after it was disclosed that a Burmese military officer attended a regional security conference hosted by the New Zealand government in Auckland.

Locke and other New Zealand politicians who monitor events in Burma said they knew nothing about the visit by a Burmese navy captain until the Dominion Post newspaper forced disclosure under New Zealand’s freedom of information laws.

Locke complained that the captain’s involvement “rewarded” an oppressive regime which other countries imposed tougher sanctions against.

“The United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and the European Union all have wide-ranging sanctions against the regime, whilst New Zealand sits idly by,” said the director of human rights of NGO Partners Relief and Development New Zealand, Ruth Corlett.

She told the Post that New Zealand’s lack of sanctions against the regime “makes us complicit in their blatant disregard of global human rights standards.”

Earlier this year, the New Zealand government was criticized for providing English-language training for Burmese government administrative officials.

Singapore Firm Drills New Oil Well in onshore Burma Field

Singapore-based Interra Resources’ Goldpetrol venture has begun drilling a new well in Burma’s aging Yenangyaung onshore oilfield in a bid to boost production.

The booster well is intended to increase oil output from a neighboring well currently delivering 110 barrels per day.

Interra, listed on the Singapore stock market, holds a controlling 60 percent share in operating the Yenangyaung field in the Irrawaddy valley with the state-controlled Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise.

The firm is engaged in an improved oil recovery program in what was once Burma’s most important domestic fuel source.

Interra, which also operates in Thailand and Indonesia, announced new oil finds in the Burma field more than one year ago.

Bangladesh’s Pushes Road-Rail Links to China via Burma

China’s senior leadership is giving its backing for a three-country road and railway development project linking the southwestern Chinese province of Yunnan with the Bangladesh coast via Burma, says Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

The dual commercial transport links would connect Yunnan’s capital Kunming with Cox’s Bazar and Ramu on the coast inside Bangladesh but close to the Burma border.

“I've made a proposal to the Chinese leaders about forming a tri-nation committee for implementation of the proposed Bangladesh-China road and rail links. This will help Bangladesh, China and Myanmar to work in a coordinated way,” Hasina said in the Dhaka parliament this week.

Her proposal follows a visit she made to China earlier this year, and a return visit to Dhaka by Chinese vice-president Xi Jingping on June 14.