Bangladesh's Claim to Myanmar Gas Rejected

International Tribunal for Law of the Sea (ITLOS) has ruled that India’s natural gas assets in Myanmar were outside Dhaka’s maritime limits, Indian Express reported.

Clarifying the ITLOS ruling on water boundary between Myanmar and Bangladesh, the Research & Analysis Wing (RAW) has informed that blocks A1 and A3 would “remain within Myanmar side”. The blocks collectively hold about 6 trillion cubic feet of discovered gas and state-run Indian firms hold 25.5 per cent equity in each.

Coordinated of these blocks were contested by Bangladesh and it floated exploration tenders. The claims resulted in strained relations between the two countries with a standoff in October 2008 when survey ships of A1 and A3 operator Daewoo International were forced to withdraw from close to St Martin’s Island after Dhaka dispatched its naval forces.

The oil and gas fields map prepared by Myanmar following ITLOS’ March 14 verdict shows that almost all of its offshore blocks had been excluded from Bangladesh.

Gas reserves in A1’s Shwe and Shwe Phyu fields are estimated at 3.83 trillion cubic feet while that in A3’s Mya field is 1.52 TCF. Both blocks are under development and gas production of 200 million standard cubic metres per day is expected to commence from May 2013.

ONGC Videsh Ltd holds 17 per cent equity and GAIL India Ltd 8.5 per cent in each of A1 and A3 blocks.

Dhaka moved ITLOS with the provisions of UN Convention on the Law of the Sea for international arbitration after Myanmar claimed 17 and India 10 out of the 28 blocks that Bangladesh had announced for exploration.

It dragged both neighbours to different international tribunals in 2009, seeking delimitation of its maritime boundaries through and beyond the continental shelf extending 200 nautical miles into the gas and mineral rich Bay of Bengal.