Myanmar’s regime says a fuel tycoon’s company will share expertise to develop two major oil wells in an undisclosed location.
The junta said the state-owned Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE) will work with Michael Moe Myint’s MPRL E&P Company.
Global oil majors left Myanmar after the 2021 coup, stifling further exploitation of the country’s oil and gas reserves.
The US sanctioned MOGE in October last year, saying it was the regime’s largest single source of foreign revenue, funding foreign weapons purchases.
It was sanctioned by the European Union in February 2022.
The junta’s energy ministry hosted a workshop on drilling deep to boost the productivity of mature fields on Thursday.
MPRL employees attended the event to explain their experience of deep drilling.
The regime’s energy minister Ko Ko Lwin said MOGE planned to finish drilling its deepwater wells by April next year.
MOGE would dig the two wells with MPRL’s technical assistance, said the minister, adding that it was a boost to national pride that only citizens from Myanmar were involved in the operations.
A former pilot, Michael Moe Myint established Myint and Associates in 1989 and MPRL in 1996.
He had close ties with the regimes of former military dictator Than Shwe and ex-president Thein Sein.
The MPRL won a contract to operate an oil field off the Rakhine coast in 2007 and expanded its operations to oil and gas exploration in 2015.
Michael Moe Myint and his wife Daw Ohnmar Moe Myint also became close to State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi after she took office in 2016.
The civilian leader flew to Bangkok to visit Daw Ohnmar Moe Myint before she died in a single-day trip.
Michael Moe Myint left Myanmar after the 2021 coup but his partnership with the regime continues despite international sanctions.
Junta newspapers reported in April last year that MPRL was engaged in oil and gas exploration off the Rakhine coast.
