India-Myanmar gas pipeline may materialise in 2-3 yrs
02 Dec 2009
Kolkata: A tri-nation gas pipeline between India, Bangladesh and Myanmar may materialise in two to three years time, according to Myanmar ambassador U Kyi Thein.
"Something can happen in two to three years with Indian companies like GAIL, Essar Oil, ONGC, IOC exploring gas in Myanmar," Thein told reporters on the sidelines of an interactive session.
Thein also mentioned his country had signed an oil pipeline deal with China early this year which envisaged a 1,100 km pipeline from Myanmar's west coast port of Kyaukryu to Ruili in China and terminating at Kunming city, the capital of Yunnan province.
In the first stage, the Myanmar-China Crude Pipeline will extend for 771km from Kyaukryu port to Ruili with a designed annual deliverability of 12 million tons.
The ambassador also said that bilateral trade between India and Myanmar was expected to touch $1 billion in 2009-10 from the present $951 million.
''Major exports from Myanmar are pulses, teak and timber and we import steel, cement, fertilizer, pharmaceutical products from India,'' he said.
India is the fourth-largest trading country in Myanmar after Thailand, China and Singapore.
