Myanmar Not to Export New Gas Finds

Myanmar plans to use natural gas from new projects beyond 2013 for domestic consumption, Reuters said in a report Friday.

Minister of Energy Than Htay said the country has a natural gas reserves at 22.5 trillion cubic feet, almost double the 11.8 trillion estimated by oil major BP in its 2011 statistical review.

"Now we are developing, we need more energy, so we won't sell our natural gas abroad. We will use it ourselves," Than Htay said.

Existing plans to supply gas to China and boost exports to Thailand would be honoured, he said.

A pipeline to pump 400 million cubic feet of gas a day to China is on schedule to start in 2013. Myanmar already supplies 1.2 billion cubic feet to Thailand daily, the minister said, and would add another 300 million cubic feet per day from the early stages of a project at the Zawtika gas field.