MYANMA Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE) has highlighted the potential of the oil and gas field in Nyaungdon Township, already Myanmar’s biggest onshore field.

Estimating that the latest well in the area – number 23 – could produce 5 million-cubic-feet of natural gas a day once the drilling, which began in June, is completed, executive geologist U Kyi Soe this month said “a lot of gas could be explored in the Nyaungdon region”.

He said that seismic surveys would continue to pinpoint future exploration sites. Well 22, where drilling began in February, is producing about three million-cubic-feet of natural gas a day.

At a seminar of Myanmar Geosciences Society held at Yangon University in June, U Zaw Aung of MOGE highlighted the future potential for gas exploration in the area, estimating Initial In-Place natural gas reserves to be about 222 billion cubic feet.

“At present, Nyaungdon region produces about 98 million cubic feet of natural gas a day and over 1200 barrels of oil a day in total,” he said.

Nyaungdon oil and gas field, which accounts for 65 per cent of Myanmar’s total onshore gas production, was discovered in April 1999, producing 70.5 billion-cubic-feet of natural gas up to the end of June.

The Nyaungdon oil and gas field, which lies just 34 miles northwest of Yangon, includes 23 wells, of which 17 are commercially productive.