State-run oil refiner CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) said it has signed an agreement with a subsidiary of China’s Sinopec Group (中國石化集團) to jointly participate in a natural gas exploration project in Myanmar.
According to the agreement inked with Sinopec International Petroleum Exploration and Production Corp (SIPC, 中石化國際石油勘探開發) on Wednesday, CPC will own 30 percent of rights to, and benefits from, the onshore exploration project.
SIPC owns the remaining 70 percent.
In a statement issued on Thursday, CPC said it bought the 30 percent rights in an onshore block in Myanmar from Sinopec.
CPC did not disclose how much it had paid for the rights, saying it started negotiations on the deal a year ago.
The company said it would continue seeking opportunities to explore overseas gas fields in collaboration with foreign firms to help it increase oil sources and improve supply stability.
Sinopec acquired full exploration rights over the 12,000km2 block in 2004. The Chinese company has dug six wells at the block, discovering oil and gas in three, CPC said.
Myanmar has the world’s 10th-largest natural gas reserves. Four natural gas fields in the country have proven reserves of 254.9 billion cubic meters each, CPC said.
With a strategically important location in Southeast Asia and increasingly open investment policies, Myanmar has in recent years attracted Indonesia, Britain, France, Thailand, South Korea, India and China to carry out exploration projects there, CPC said.
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