TN PETRÓLEO

Daewoo International Corp. said Friday that it has decided to extend the exploration of a gas block off Myanmar until August due to the country's maritime border dispute with Bangladesh.


Under a deal with the Myanmar government, the South Korean trading company has been tapping the gas block off the west coast of the Southeast Asian country since March 2007. The project was scheduled for completion at the end of February.


The extension results from the unsettled dispute over the maritime border between Bangladesh and Myanmar," said an official at Daewoo International, who declined to be identified.


The AD-7 gas block is located in the Bay of Bengal between Myanmar and Bangladesh, which have been at odds about the demarcation of their maritime border for several years.


Daewoo International formed a consortium to develop the gas block with the aim of reducing costs and securing a market, the official said.


The consortium consists of Daewoo International, the state-run Korea Gas Corp. (KOGAS), and two state-run Indian companies -- Indian Oil and Natural Gas Corp. (ONGC) and GAIL (India) Ltd.


Daewoo International held a 60% stake in the consortium, followed by ONGC with 20%, GAIL with 10% and KOGAS with 10%.


Daewoo International said, however, that it acquired the entire stake in the consortium as other members decided to opt out due to the border dispute. (Yonhap)