India and Myanmar on Wednesday decided to pursue the options of an on-shore gas pipeline bypassing Bangladesh or of importing natural gas from Myanmar in liquefied form.
These options were considered following bilateral issues raised by the Bangladesh government for letting a pipeline cross its territory.
The Indian government also took a decision yesterday to extend a $20 million credit to the government of Myanmar for renovation of the Thanlyin refinery.
The decision on gas transportation was taken at a meeting of Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar and Myanmar's Minister for Energy Lun Thi in New Delhi on Wednesday.
The techno-commercial working committee, set up in pursuance of a trilateral press statement issued by India, Bangladesh and Myanmar in January, will consider the two options.
The on-land option bypassing Bangladesh will be for gas delivered at Sittwe and at the Myanmar-India border. Lun Thi said during the discussions the responsibility of natural gas seller, which was Myanmar, would end at the delivery point.
The working committee will meet in Myanmarese Capital Yangon before the end of the month. Both sides agreed that the best alternative to gas evacuation from Myanmar to India would be through the Myanmar-Bangladesh-India pipeline. The Indian government will continue to sort out outstanding bilateral issues with Bangladesh separately.
The Myanmarese minister said they were trying to assess gas reserves in the A1 block, in which ONGC also had equity, through a third party certification till the end of 2005.
They have estimated that the A1 block has about 9 trillion cubic feet of gas, which might support two LNG trains totalling to 7 million tonnes per annum. The Myanmarese side sought an early decision from New Delhi on taking part in the LNG trains.