Myanmar signs oil and gas deals with Russian and Indian firms

Sep 17, 2006, 8:43 GMT

Yangon - Myanmar's (Burma's) state oil company has signed a petroleum production-sharing contract for offshore reserves with Russian and Indian oil firms, state media reported on Sunday.

An agreement to jointly explore, drill and extract oil and gas found in the Mottama Offshore Block (M-8) was signed between the Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise and Russia's Itera Oil and Gas Company and India's Sun Group, said The New Light of Myanmar newspaper.

The production-sharing arrangement was signed at a ceremony at the Kumudra Hotel in Myanmar's new capital of Naypyitaw on Friday, the same day Russia voted against a US request to bring Myanmar before the UN Security Council to examine the country's poor human rights record.

The UN council voted 10-4, with one abstention, to debate Myanmar's alleged human rights violations, which the US said could be classified as a threat to peace and security in the region. The issue has never before been formally discussed at the UN.

China, Congo, Qatar and Russia voted against the request. Tanzania abstained from the vote.

China, India and Russia have all expressed interest in Myanmar's considerable energy reserves, especially natural gas fields that have been found offshore in the Gulf of Martaban.

The UN vote was deemed unusual because decisions to include issues for discussion on the agenda are procedural measures and are decided by the 15-nation council in closed-door meetings. China strongly opposed including Myanmar on the agenda, forcing the US to demand the vote in an open session.

It takes nine votes to put an item on the agenda. A negative vote by any of the five permanent members - the US, Russia, China, France and Britain - does not constitute a veto in a procedural matter.

The UN had described the human rights and humanitarian situation in Myanmar as 'grave.' Concerns include the detention of over 1,100 political prisoners, outflow of refugees, drug trafficking, HIV/AIDS and health-related issues.

The military government in Myanmar has rejected UN calls for faster democratic reform, including the release of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of the National League of Democracy, the main opposition party. Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Laureate, has been under house arrest for more than a decade.