Amid a general decline in production, Malaysian oil and gas firm Petronas has reportedly begun cutting workers at its offshore sites in Myanmar’s Yetagun gas field. The news came from a Petronas employee speaking to the Myanmar Times under the condition of anonymity. The employee said further rounds of lay-offs are planned for this December and March of next year. The cuts come with a general decline in production at Yetagun, which has yielded gas since 2000. According to data obtained by the Myanmar Times, the field only produces 60 million standard cubic feet of gas per day, down from 300 million daily cubic feet at its height. The field is expected to be totally exhausted by 2023.
Yet as Yetagun declines, offshore oil and gas in general is picking up, with international companies eager to explore and develop new sites in the Bay of Bengal. For example, as we have previously reported, last year Australia’s Woodside Energy and France’s Total SA inked a deal to create what will be ASEAN’s first ultra-deepwater development in Myanmar’s A-6 offshore block. Furthermore, in July of this year, Indian state-owned firm ONGC Videsh announced that it will add an additional USD 121 million to its existing investments off the coast of Rakhine State. These and other ventures have helped make energy one of the largest sectors for foreign direct investment in Myanmar.
Petronas is the largest partner in the Yetagun project with a 40.9% stake. Other partners include Thailand’s PTTEP International (19.3%), Myanmar’s Nippon Oil Exploration (19.3%) and Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise (20.5%).
