Page 13 - GLNG Week 05 2021

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Woodside commits to Myanmar

drilling despite coup

POLICY AUSTRALIAN developer Woodside Energy has warned that the coup could derail final
remains committed to drilling three deepwater investment decisions (FIDs) on upstream pro-
wells offshore Myanmar this year, despite the jects worth $2.5bn over the next decade, with
country’s recent military coup. Woodside’s A-6 project highlighted as a poten-
The Myanmar army detained the country’s tial candidate for such delays.
leaders on Monday over claims of election fraud
and imposed a one-year-long state of emer- Possible project delays
gency. The move has prompted US President Wood Mackenzie research associate Saloni
Joe Biden to consider re-imposing sanctions Kapoor said: “Key developments such as
that were lifted by former US President Barack PTTEP’s Block M9 (Zawtika) and Woodside’s
Obama. Block A6 account for around 40% of the coun-
Woodside told Reuters on February 4 that try’s expected supply until 2030. Incremental
despite recent events it intended to pursue phases at Zawtika will provide upside to Myan-
its development schedule for the A-6 project, mar’s energy mix, but if A-6 does not progress
which lies off Myanmar’s south-west coast in as planned, an estimated 2 trillion cubic feet
around 2,000 metres of water. [56.64bn cubic metres] of gas supply is threat-
“Our current drilling campaign remains on ened. This supply is critical to make up for
schedule and those supporting the drilling cam- declining volumes from legacy fields.”
paign are safe and accounted for. We continue The analyst further argued that environmen-
to progress the A-6 Development activities as tal, social and governance (ESG) risk exposure
a priority,” the newswire quoted an unnamed would weigh on the $2.5bn worth of upstream
Woodside spokeswoman as saying. investment that five companies had planned for
The spokeswoman added that Woodside the next five years.
aimed to be a “constructive foreign investor” Wood Mackenzie’s consulting director, Man-
in Myanmar, before adding: “In the ongoing gesh Patankar, said several Chinese-led LNG
development of Myanmar, economic stability import projects – including CNTIC VPower’s
and energy supply can play an important role.” existing small-scale terminal and a proposed
While Woodside told Reuters that it was integrated LNG-to-power project at Mee Laung
monitoring guidance from the UN and the Aus- Gyaing – were unlikely to be affected as a result
tralian government on investing in Myanmar, it of China having always engaged with both the
refused to be drawn on how it would respond if military and civilian-led governments.
sanctions were imposed. “However, the Ahlone LNG-to-power project
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has led by TTCL with Japanese partners and the
vowed to see the coup fail, promising to rally Thilawa LNG-to-power project led by the Japa-
enough international support that the military nese consortium of Marubeni-Sumitomo-Mit-
will have to relinquish power. sui, entailing a total investment cost of around
“We will do everything we can to mobilise $2.7bn, could face delays,” Patankar added.
all the key actors and international commu- The analyst also warned that US “incre-
nity to put enough pressure on Myanmar to mental counter-measures” could lead to a
make sure that this coup fails,” Guterres said drop-off in the country’s LNG imports, owing
in a February 4 interview broadcast by The to LNG suppliers and ship owners finding it
Washington Post. increasingly difficult to do business with
Global energy consultancy Wood Mackenzie Myanmar companies.™

Week 05 05•February•2021 www. NEWSBASE .com P13