India's oil minister to visit protest-hit Myanmar

India's state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corp. would sign contracts for gas exploration in three offshore blocks in Myanmar during the visit by Deora, the spokesman said.

Deora's visit comes a fortnight after the United States and Indonesia called on China and India to use their clout to press Myanmar's military junta to improve its human rights record.

It also comes in the middle of nationwide protests by Buddhist monks -- deeply respected in Myanmar -- against the military dictatorship.

Deora will witness the signing of "production-sharing contracts" for three deep-sea blocks between the Indian firm and Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise, the government spokesman said.

Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) will have a 100 per cent interest in the AD-1, AD-3 and AD-9 deep-sea blocks -- off the Rakhine coast of Myanmar, an oil ministry statement said separately.

Military-ruled Myanmar, which borders both China and India, possesses significant untapped natural gas reserves off its western Arakan Coast.

"After his arrival at Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar, on September 23, Deora will meet his counterpart Brigadier General Lun Thi to discuss possibilities of enhancing bilateral cooperation in (the) hydrocarbon sector," the statement said.

New Delhi has not commented on the protests, which started a month ago in Myanmar after a huge hike in fuel prices and have since spread nationwide, confronting the junta with its most prolonged challenge in nearly two decades.

US and European economic sanctions have been imposed over the junta's human rights abuses but their impact has been weakened by growing trade with neighbours such as China, India and Thailand.

Energy-hungry India and China, besides other Asian countries, have been jockeying for a share of Myanmar's vast energy resources.

ONGC and India's state gas utility GAIL each already hold 30 per cent stakes in both the A-1 and A-3 offshore blocks in Myanmar, with the first gas supplies expected in early 2011.

India, which had been negotiating another three-billion-dollar deal to run a pipeline from Myanmar across Bangladesh to the eastern Indian city of Kolkata, lost out to China earlier this year, an oil ministry official said Saturday.

During a visit to Thailand last week, Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee insisted New Delhi would not interfere in the affairs of other countries.

India, which is battling a myriad of insurgencies in its northeastern region bordering Myanmar, has cited security concerns for engaging the military regime.

Former Indian ambassador to Myanmar G. Parthasarthy said New Delhi had kept the military junta at arm's length after the 1988 coup, but then changed its policy when India realised its security interests were in jeopardy.

"Insurgents from India's northeast were taking shelter there (in Myanmar)."

"There are instances of soldiers (from Myanmar) being killed fighting Indian insurgents in the jungles there," he said, referring to joint operations by India's and Myanmar's military to flush out Indian insurgents.