Energy
From The Report: Myanmar 2019
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Home to one of the world’s oldest oil and gas industries, the energy sector has long been a key pillar of Myanmar’s economy. While the sector continues to play an essential role in economic output, its true potential has not yet been realised, partly due to a counterproductive fiscal regime and unfavourable market conditions. Despite a number of setbacks, successive governments have made important steps towards unlocking Myanmar’s energy potential. With natural gas reserves of an estimated 16.6trn standard cu feet and some 139m barrels of crude oil reserves, substantial investments in exploration have led to billions of dollars in annual export revenue.

This chapter contains interviews with U Win Khaing, Minister of Electricity and Energy; and Javier Rielo, Vice-president, Total Asia Pacific.

Articles from this Chapter

Overview

Tapping potential: A string of policy reforms promises to stimulate upstream investment and improve electrification rates
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Home to one of the world’s oldest oil and gas industries, the energy sector has long been a key pillar of Myanmar’s economy. While the sector continues to play an essential role in economic output, its true potential has not yet been realised, partly due to a counterproductive fiscal regime and unfavourable market conditions. Despite a number of setbacks, successive governments have made important steps towards unlocking Myanmar’s energy potential. With natural gas reserves of an estimated…

Interview

Reform and enhance: U Win Khaing, Minister of Electricity and Energy, on electricity reform and maximising offshore yields
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U Win Khaing: Interview How is the government planning to reform subsidies to make energy supply more economically feasible? U WIN KHAING: Tariff review and reform is a priority. The Ministry of Electricity and Energy (MoEE) is fully aware of the causes and consequences of the deterioration of its financial position. For example, the cost of generation has increased significantly because new power plants have come on-line, with a higher cost of supply than the older dams. Demand has also grown…

Analysis

Increased capacity: Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is playing an important role in increasing the security and diversity of energy supplies
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In January 2018 the Ministry of Electricity and Energy (MoEE) authorised four major power projects using its new “notice to proceed” approval process. If brought to fruition, these projects will collectively add more than 3000 MW of generation capacity to the national grid. Three projects will make use of imported LNG and are located at Ahlone in Yangon Region, Kanbauk in Tanintharyi Region, and Mee Laung Gyaing in Ayeyarwady Region. The fourth project, meanwhile, will make use of domestic…

Interview

New avenues: Javier Rielo, Vice-President, Total Asia Pacific, on continuing exploration while also developing clean sources
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Interview:Javier Rielo How important are deepwater projects, and how can break-even costs be reduced? JAVIER RIELO: Natural gas accounts for 35-40% of the power generation mix and is mainly sourced from fields developed in the late 1990s. A new generation of resources needs to be sourced during the next decade to maintain the supply-demand balance. In order to achieve this, Myanmar conducted a successful licensing round for exploration blocks in 2013-14, during which time mostly deep offshore…

Analysis

Cooking with gas: Increased uptake of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) is facilitated by foreign investment and improvements to infrastructure
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In May 2018 local energy firm Elite Petrochemical inaugurated the first stage of a $128m LPG import and distribution facility in the Thilawa Special Economic Zone, located 25 km south of Yangon. The terminal and hub, developed under a build-operate-transfer model, includes a jetty for cargo handling and a 3000-tonne storage tank farm. The second stage, currently under construction, will expand storage capacity to 25,000 tonnes of LPG and up to 100,000 tonnes of diesel and petrol. The development…

Analysis

Levy adjustment: Changes to Myanmar’s fiscal regime could raise interest in upcoming oil and gas field tenders
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The previous administration, led by U Thein Sein, awarded oil and gas blocks that offered companies the chance to earn handsome margins. However, since the fall of oil prices in 2014, production-sharing contracts (PSCs) have become less attractive. As such, private investors have called for fiscal reform to spur exploration activity. According to the state-owned Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE), fresh bidding rounds for unoccupied offshore and onshore oil and gas blocks will be held in…