Consultant to study Indo-Burma gas pipeline routes

India has appointed Brussels-based company Suz Tractebel to consult on alternative routes for a gas pipeline from Burma to India, bypassing Bangladesh.

Burmese authorities have been pressuring the Indian government to come up with alternate routes for the pipeline that do not involve Bangladesh.

Indian officials were also prompted to make the move by Burma's singing of a lucrative gas agreement with China.

India's state-owned GAIL Limited, which is in charge of the pipeline project, announced the decision to commission SUZ Tractebel as a technical consultant yesterday.

 SUZ Tractebel have been instructed by GAIL to, "carry out a study for preparing the detailed feasibility report, environment management plan and rapid risk analysis study report for the [Burma]-India pipeline project via the northeast Indian territory," according to a GAIL statement.

The company has been given three months to come up with the reports.

"The proposed pipeline will be routed through the states of Mizoram, Assam, West Bengal and Bihar. The pipeline will also have the provision to transport gas from developing gas fields in Tripura and Assam," the GAIL statement said.

In a letter to the Indian petroleum ministry last month, Burma assured the country it had sufficient gas reserves to meet the needs of both China and India but said India would have to wait until May for third party consultants to confirm reserves before export deals were finalised.

Burma confirmed the A1 block in the Shwe field contained 2.88 trillion to 3.56 trillion cubic feet of gas reserves and is waiting for assessments from several other fields including the Mya1 well in the A3 block.

GAIL and ONGC Videsh Ltd, the overseas arm of India's Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, hold 30 percent stakes in Burma's A1 and A3 blocks.