• 80% of Rakhine gas goes to China

    A report called “Myanmar’s natural resources ownership, management, income sharing and impact” carried out by the Ethnic Nationalities Affairs Centre says the Shwe natural gas project off the Rakhine coast has a daily natural gas production capacity of 500 million cubic feet and 80 per cent of it will be exported to China for 30 years. Only about 100 million cubic feet would be sent to Kyaukphyu in impoverished Rakhine State, the report said.

    It also said Myanmar received just US$13.8 million a year from land rental for the gas pipeline that stretched nearly 800km from Rakhine State to China. An oil pipeline runs parallel from an island near the port of Kyaukphyu. The oil pipeline sent about 22 million tonnes a year to China from Rakhine State, which remains one of the poorest areas of Myanmar with a large proportion of its citizens living in wretched conditions.

    The gas pipeline was built jointly by six companies from China, Myanmar, South Korea and India. The gas pipeline is estimated to have cost about US$5 billion. Residents and non-governmental organisations have condemned the Shwe project for offering no benefits to Rakhine State. The state remains distracted and divided by ethnic disputes, which were sparked in 2012, coinciding with the exploitation of the state’s energy resources. Barry Church Womens Jersey

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