Mitsui-Total-Unocal MOU

[ider@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Japan/Mitsui/Burma Gas-2: Exclusive Rights To Yadana Output
 
   TOKYO (AP-Dow Jones)--A consortium of Japan's Mitsui & Co., 
Total SA of France and Unocal Corp. of the U.S. signed a 
Memorandum Of Understanding (MOU) Monday with the Burmese 
government to become the official joint-venture partners for 
Burma's $700-million Yadana gas field project, a Mitsui official
told Dow Jones Wednesday. 
   The consortium has been granted exclusive negotiation rights 
with the Burmese government to carry out the project for the 
commercial and industrial use of natural gas produced from the 
offshore Yadana field, said the official. 
   The MOU follows a feasibility conducted during August to November 
1995 by Mitsui and the Burmese government. The project, called 
'Three In One,' involves three schemes: building a 250-kilometer 
pipeline from the Yadana field; connecting the pipeline to a proposed 
200,000-kilowatt (kW) power plant; and building a urea fertilizer 
production plant with a capacity of 570,000 metric tons a year (mt/y), 
said the official. 
   Since Burma's natural gas production from onshore fields is falling 
owing to the depletion of resources, the effective use of offshore gas 
is said to be one of the country's most important issues and has been 
given top priority by the government, the Mitsui official noted. 
   Pending international cooperative loans from Japan, the U.S. and 
Europe to help finance the costs of the 'Three-In-One' project, the 
Mitsui-Total-Unocal consortium aims to start the industrialized use 
of natural gas in July 1998, which will coincide with the expected 
commencement by another consortium of commercial gas production at 
the Yadana field, he added.  
   Actual development of the field is being handled by another 
consortium, comprised of Total, Unocal and PTT Exploration and 
Production PCL of Thailand, which in February 1995 signed a 
production-sharing agreement with the country's national oil company, 
Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE). 
   The Mitsui-Total-Unocal joint venture is different in that it is 
involved with the actual use that the natural gas is put to. 
   Production volumes are expected to be 650 million cubic feet per 
day. Some 525 million cubic feet per day will be exported to Thailand 
through another pipeline that has yet to be studied, and the remaining 
125 million cubic feet per day will be consumed domestically, the 
Mitsui official said. 
   -Mika Watanabe 
   (END) AP-DOW JONES NEWS 09-04-96
   0354GMT



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                 |     Shimojima Ichiroo      |
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