Yetagun Gas Field

The Yetagun project is an offshore gas and condensate field in production in the Gulf of Moattama, Andaman Sea, Myanmar.

Petronas Carigali Myanmar (Hong Kong), a subsidiary of Malaysian oil and gas company Petronas, is the operator of the field with a stake of 40.91%. Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE) owning a 20.45% interest, and Nippon Oil Exploration (Myanmar) (NOEM) and PTTEP International (PTTEPI) with a stake of 19.32% each, are the other partners in the field.

Japan’s Mitsubishi entered the Yetagun gas and condensate field in 2013 through a 10% stake acquisition in NOEM.

Natural gas produced from the field is delivered to Petroleum Authority of Thailand (PTT) through an offshore and onshore gas pipeline, while the produced condensate is stored in a floating storage and offloading (FSO) system and is supplied domestically in Myanmar as well as sold internationally.

Location

The Yetagu gas field is located in the Taninthayi area in the southern Andaman Sea, approximately 230km off the coast of Myanmar. The field lies at a water depth of 105m.

Covering approximately 24,130km² of area, the Yetagun field is spread over three offshore blocks M12, M13 and M14.

Discovery and reserves

The Yetagun gas field was discovered in December 1992 and entered into commercial production in May 2000. Production from the Yetagun North gas field was commenced in October 2014.

The gas field was estimated to contain three trillion cubic feet of gas and 80 million barrels of condensate.

Yetagun field development details

The Yetagun gas field project comprises offshore production facilities, a subsea pipeline and an onshore pipeline to deliver the gas to the receiver station. It also included a leased 245m-long Yetagun FSO vessel from SBM Offshore.

Consisting of 30,000 tonnes of steel, two platforms were initially installed in a water depth of 103m for the project. The platforms included Yetagun A wellhead platform and Yetagun B processing platform, which is used for separation and dehydration of the produced gas and condensate.

The project consists of a 24-inch wide and 202km-long offshore pipeline in the Andaman Sea to connect the Yetagun gas field to the onshore receiving centre. It also includes a 67km-long onshore pipeline to deliver natural gas from the receiving centre point to the PTT receiving station.

The offshore gas field project was later expanded with the installation of a new booster compressor platform Yetagun C and a new bridge to provide a connection to the existing Yetagun B processing platform.

Yetagun North is a satellite field that was developed with the installation of a new wellhead platform.

The Yetagun platform and pipeline construction project was initially developed by UK-based Premier Oil with an investment of $650m. In September 2003, the company exited the gas project and the operatorship was transferred to Petronas.

Yetagun FSO replacement project

The FSO replacement project involved the decommissioning of the Yetagun FSO and replacing it with a new vessel. The decommissioning was carried out in 2018 and the Yet Sena FSO (Bratasena) was installed for the Yetagun field.

The project comprised the disconnection of the nine catenary anchor leg mooring chains of the Yetagun FSO, the 16-inch x 280m export (floating) hose, and the flexible six-inch riser.

With 180m in length and 31m wide, the Yet Sena FSO has a cargo tank capacity of 53,324m3.

Contractors involved

Thai Nippon Steel Engineering & Construction Corporation was awarded the engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning contract for the Yetagun expansion project.

Asian Sealand Offshore & Marine was engaged for the SBM Offshore Yetagun FSO life extension project. The scope of the contract included renewal of internal steel of tanks, side shell blasting and painting.

MOS Engineering was subcontracted to support Bluewater Asia Pacific Group (BWAPG) and Adidaya Energi Mandiri (AEM) in the Yetagun FSO replacement project.

Production halt at Yetagun

Petronas Carigali Myanmar (Hong Kong) issued a force majeure (FM) on the Yetagun field, temporarily halting production. The declaration was made after a decline in production rate below the minimum threshold.

The average production from the Yetagun field was 17 million standard cubic feet per day (MMSCFD) of natural gas and approximately 560 barrels of condensates per day in 2021.

In May 2022, PTTEP and Petronas revealed their intentions to exit the Yetagun gas project. PTTEP has also announced its plans to withdraw from Taninthayi Pipeline Company, a transportation company that supplies the gas produced from the field to Thailand. The decisions follow a military coup in Myanmar.