Woodside Seeks More Exploration Blocks in Offshore Myanmar

Australia’s biggest oil and gas firm Woodside Petroleum said last week that it aims to expand its presence in Myanmar’s energy industry in a bid to bolster its overseas presence.
Woodside is planning to take part in the next bidding round for offshore exploration blocks in Myanmar where Woodside’s expertise lies, in addition to the two blocks that the company participated through joint ventures.
“We are running seismic tests and hope to drill a well either next year or 2015,” Woodside chief executive Peter Coleman told Reuters in an interview.
Woodside also said it could build three floating liquefied natural gas (LNG) plants for its Browse project in Australia, as the firm banks on what it expects to be a cheaper technology to contain booming Australian development costs.
With $190 billion worth of LNG projects underway, Australia is set to become the world’s largest LNG exporter by the end of the decade.
Woodside has already signed on Shell, a joint venture partner and considered to be the global front-runner in floating LNG technology, to develop the Browse gas fields. Other joint venture partners include BP Plc, PetroChina, Mitsui & Co and Mitsubishi Corp.