ONGC Videsh, India’s state-owned overseas-focused energy firm, will add USD 121 million to its already sizable investment in oil and gas blocks on the Rakhine State coast. The funding, which was recently approved by India’s Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, will go towards projects in the A-1 and A-3 offshore blocks, reported India’s Business Standard. These blocks are part of Myanmar’s broader Shwe oil and natural gas development, which calls for exploration and extraction of massive fossil fuel reserves in the Bay of Bengal. ONGC Videsh has been a key partner in this development, having already invested USD 722 million.

Exploiting Myanmar’s offshore fuel reserves has been a priority of Myanmar’s democratic government. Private and state-owned energy firms from around the world have courted Myanmar as potential partners, rushing to claim their stake in the Bay of Bengal. Many of these are scrambling to catch up with China, which has completed a 771-kilometer network of oil and gas pipelines that cut across northern Myanmar and connect the Bay to the Chinese mainland. Myanmar itself is in dire need of fossil fuels, especially liquid natural gas, to meet its short and long term energy needs. However, the ongoing conflict and human rights crisis in Rakhine State casts a geopolitical shadow over Myanmar’s offshore ambitions. This week, local community-based organization Arakan Oil Watch released a statement claiming these offshore developments fund conflict and cause instability in the troubled region.