Myanmar gets China's help for hydropower project

http://news.alibaba.com/article/detail/energy/100077635-1-myanmar-gets-china%2527s-help-hydropower.html

YANGON, March 30 - China is to help Myanmar build a big hydropower plant on the River Irawaddy in the north of the country, adding to a string of joint hydropower projects, and a huge gas pipeline to China is also planned, officials in Myanmar said.

The latest hydropower project, under a deal reached with a Chinese delegation last week, involves a plant in northern Kachin State, at the confluence of the Malikha and Maykha rivers on the upper reaches of the Irawaddy.

Located about 20 miles (32 km) north of Myitkyina, Kachin's state capital, and about 50 miles (80 km) from the Chinese border, officials say the plant will generate electricity to be used domestically and for export.

Sources in the region have said that feasibility studies for the project were carried out last year around the confluence, raising concern about the possible relocation of nearby villages and the ecological impact.

To cope with growing demand, Myanmar has pushed ahead with dozens of hydropower projects across the country, mostly with the assistance of China, one of the few allies of the army-ruled Southeast Asian country.



At present 15 major hydropower projects are still being implemented.

On completion of these projects, total installed electricity generation capacity will be 10,400 megawatts. According to official data, total capacity in the whole country has been 1,690 megawatts since fiscal 2005-2006 (April/March).

PIPELINE

China said last week it had signed a contract with Myanmar to build cross-border oil and gas pipelines. [ID:nPEK68191]

A senior Chinese energy official said one project involved a gas and oil pipeline running more than 2,000 km (1,240 miles) through Ruili and Kunming in Yunnan province to Chongqing municipality in southwestern China.

It would help China cut out a long detour through the congested Strait of Malacca and strengthen China's access to rich energy reserves in Myanmar itself.

Officials in Myanmar said the pipeline would start from its western deep-sea port in Kyaukphyu Township in Rakhine State.

A senior Energy Ministry official told Reuters last year the consortium that had developed two major offshore gas blocks off Rakhine had already agreed to sell gas from the block to China through a pipeline.

Construction of the pipeline is scheduled to start in the first half of 2009, they said.

Located in the A-1 block off Rakhine, the Shwe gas field has proven reserves of 4 to 6 trillion cubic feet (TCF).

Myanmar has at least 90 TCF of gas reserves and 3.2 billion barrels of recoverable crude oil reserves in 19 onshore and three major offshore fields.

According to official data, Myanmar exported gas worth $2.53 billion, mainly to neighbouring Thailand, in fiscal 2007/2008 (April/March), up from $2.03 billion in 2006-2007.

Myanmar's gas exports in the first nine months of the current fiscal year totalled $1.78 billion.