Business

Meanwhile, Malaysia’s state-owned Petronas oil company is considering a partnership with the PTT of Thailand to build a $150 million facility to extract propane and butane from natural gas piped from Burma’s Yetagun gas field.

Daewoo wins $10 billion oil project

Daewoo Corporation of Korea has signed an agreement with the state-run Myanma Oil & Gas Enterprise to invest $180 million in an oil exploration project that could be worth as much as $10 billion. The project, which is set to commence in October, is expected to extract 500 million barrels of oil and 3 trillion cubic feet of gas from a site on Burma’s Bay of Bengal coast. Daewoo will be the sole owner of the operation, according to a company spokesperson.

Wei takes over May Flower

Wei Xuekang, a commander of the United Wa State Army and a suspected drug trafficker wanted in the United States, has bought an 80% stake in the Rangoon-based May Flower Bank, according to a report by Japan’s Kyodo news service. The report, citing a Shan source, said that Wei had bought the stake from the bank’s founder Kyaw Win, another known drug boss whose decision to sell was reportedly based on concerns about the state of the Burmese economy.

Generals invest in IT

The military-controlled Myanmar Economic Corporation (MEC) has opened a computer assembly and sales center in downtown Rangoon, according to a local report. MEC, already active in heavy industry and trading, launched the Cybermec Information Technology Center as part of an effort to diversify. According to MEC’s general manager Lt-Col Tin Maung Win, Cybermec had sold more than 400 computers, assembled from parts imported from Malaysia, by the end of a one-week sales promotion period at the beginning of August.