The Second ‘Jackpot’
POSCO International is expected to hit another jackpot by successfully discovering a new gas field in Myanmar.
POSCO International announced on Feb. 17 that its offshore drilling vessel conducted a gas production test of the newly discovered Maha promising structure (place where gas is assumed to exist as a result of the prior inspection) in the Myanmar A-3 Block and confirmed a production capacity of about 38 million cubic meters of gas in a hole.
POSCO International confirmed a 12-meter-thick gas layer by having drilled 2,598 meters underground in the Maha promising structure, a deep-sea area of more than 1,000 meters deep since Jan. 12. "We will start evaluation drilling in 2021 and confirm its economic feasibility after two years of precise evaluation," POSCO International said.
The newly discovered gas layer is located about 30km away from POSCO International's two current gas fields. In addition, exploration drilling is planned for the Yan Aung Min promising structure located 24km southeast of the Maha promising structure where gas was found.
POSCO International produced and sold 162.2 billion cubic feet of gas from its two Myanmar gas fields last year. The volume accounted for 72 percent of the company's annual operating profit (approximately 440 billion won). Currently, about 500 million cubic feet of gas is sold to China and Myanmar.
The Myanmar gas field project covers not only production and sales but the whole process from exploration, development and production to transportation and sales. Production, the first stage, takes place on the Shwe Offshore Platform. The platform is as wide as a football field and is home to over 80 multinational employees from Korea, Myanmar, the Philippines, the United Kingdom and Australia. It produces gas using subsea production facilities and sends gas through pipelines to an onshore gas terminal (OGT) in Chaufu, Myanmar. After going through the terminal, the gas will be sold back to Myanmar and China via land pipelines. POSCO International will also have a 25 percent stake in the South-East Asia Gas Pipeline Company (SEAGP) which operates land pipelines to the Myanmar-China border. So POSCO International can receive dividends.