India to bypass Bangladesh for Myanmar gas

With Bangladesh maintaining "negative" attitude with regard to the proposed India-Myanmar gas pipeline passing through its territory, India has decided to by-pass the neighbouring country and started the process for making alternate arrangements.

After about a year-long stalemate and Myanmar's threat to sell the available gas to other countries, India has decided to transport gas from two off-shore blocks in Myanmar via Tripura without touching Bangladeshi territory.

State-owned Gas Authority of India Limited has asked a private company to conduct feasibility studies to transport gas from Myanmar to be received at Patna, official sources told PTI in New Delhi.

Another study has been commissioned to assess feasibility of transporting the gas in the form of compressed natural gas bypassing Bangladesh, they said.

The reports of the studies are expected by next month, the sources said.

The government took the step as Myanmar after raised doubts over India's seriousness in the project and sought "clarifications" urgently on how India proposed to move ahead.

Myanmar has threatened that if India does not decide on the project fast, it would consider selling its gas to some other countries like China and Thailand.

Under the understanding between India, Myanmar and Bangladesh, the 800-km pipeline was to be constructed from this year. The project was estimated to cost about $2.5 billion (approx Rs 12,000 crore) and gas delivery was slated to start from 2009.

However, the project got delayed because of Dhaka's insistence that India meet its certain demands, "totally unrelated to the gas pipeline project" before it allows passage of the hydrocarbon via its territory, the sources said.

Bangladesh is demanding duty-free access to its goods in India and transit facility by India to its goods to Nepal and Bhutan. New Delhi says Bangladesh already has transit facility to its goods to these two countries.

With regard to duty-free access to Bangladeshi goods, India says it has already given concessions on import of many of the items from the neighbouring country. "India cannot give across-the-board concessions," they said.

India has argued that giving across-the-board concessions could have an adverse impact on domestic industry in certain sectors. Besides, the facility can be misused with some other countries routing their products under this garb.

The sources said this issue was being addressed under SAFTA.

ONGC Videsh Ltd has taken 20 per cent stake and GAIL 10 per cent stake in two blocks of Shwe off-shore gas fields in Myanmar. One of these blocks was to start supplying gas to India from 2009.

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