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President Abdul Kalam is traveling to
Myanmar and would try to further the
natural gas deal with that country now
stalled because of unsure transport
mechanism. Myanmar has the world’s
tenth largest deposit of natural gas
and is willing to sell the gas through
the Arakan port. However, the
transportation of gas is a major
stumbling block. The three options are
to either bring it through Bangladesh,
North Eastern states and via West
Bengal, or by ships after converting
it to Liquefied Natural Gas. While
Bangladesh has been reticent on the
proposal to transportation of gas
through their territory, the
transportation through North East and
West Bengal will prove to be
prohibitively expensive.
Transportation through ships may not
be expensive but there is a
significant loss from conversion into
LNG. India has taken two oil
exploration blocks in Myanmar. Other
issues such as return to multi-party
democracy, freedom for Aung San Suu
Kyi may not feature in discussions.
India will also set up a remote
sensing station that will receive
satellite data for civilian use. |
