Burma's Gas Pipeline to Be Fixed in 5 Days

A leak in a pipeline from  Burma's Yetagun offshore gas field will be fixed in five days by Malaysia's Petronas, Thai Energy Minister Poonpirom Liptapanlop said on Thursday.

Petronas, operator of the gas-rich offshore field in the Gulf of Martaban, had found two cracks on the onshore part of the pipeline near Thai and Burma border, Poonpirom told reporters.

"They are fixing the problem and gas supply from Yetagun should be back to normal in five days," she said.

Burma natural gas accounts for about 30 percent of Thailand's consumption, mostly in power generation.

About 1.16 billion cubic feet per day (cfd) of gas from the Yetagun and nearby Yadana fields is exported to Thailand.

Thailand's PTT Exploration and Production PTTE.BK said on Wednesday the leak caused a loss of supplies to Thailand of about 400-500 million cfd.

PTTEP, a subsidiary of top energy firm PTT PCL PTT.BK, owns 19.3 percent of the Yetagun gas field and Petronas has a 40.9 percent stake. Other shareholders include Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise and Nippon Oil Exploration (Myanmar).

State-controlled PTT PCL, a buyer of gas from the Yetagun and Yadana fields, was importing 10 million litres of fuel oil a day from Malaysia for power generation as a precaution, Poonpirom said.

The leak also prompted PTT to postpone a plan to shut down the gas pipeline to Burma for routine maintenance from April 11-20, she said.