Italian energy firm Eni, following its participation in the heavily-contested international bidding for Myanmar’s onshore blocks, signed two Production Sharing Contracts (PSC) with the Ministry of Energy for RSF-5 and PSC-K onshore blocks in Nay Pyi Taw last week.
The joint venture is between Eni, with a 90 percent participating interest through Eni Myanmar BV, and the Myanmar Production and Exploration Company Ltd (10 percent).
Blocks RSF-5 covers an area of 1.292sqkm in the prolific Salin Basin about 500km north of Yangon, while block PSC-K covers an area of 6.558 sqkm in the unexplored Pegu Yoma-Sittaung Basin, in central Myanmar.
The exploration period will last six years, divided in three phases.
This agreement marks Eni’s first entry into Myanmar, a rapid expanding economy, and bolsters the firm’s strategy to reinforce its presence in Southeast Asia, where it is present in China, Vietnam, Indonesia and Timor Leste.
Myanmar awarded 16 onshore blocks late last year, 13 of which were for production sharing contracts (PSC), with the other three being petroleum recovery contracts (PRC).
Malaysian state player Petronas, ONGC Videsh of India, Brunei National Petroleum, Petroleum Exploration of Pakistan, Russia’s Bashneft, Canada’s Pacific Hunt, CAOG of Luxembourg and Thailand’s PTTEP all won blocks.
When the round was launched in January, 18 blocks were put on offer. However, two blocks received no bids, government officials had earlier said. A total of 78 companies initially sent in letters of interest and 26 companies later submitted 54 proposals for 16 blocks.
