An oil and gas exploration project by a foreign investor will resume operations in Laos after stopping ten years ago due to an economic recession.
The agreement to re-launch the project in Savannakhet province was signed between the Lao government and the UK-based Salamander Energy Group Limited last week in Vientiane .
“We are now preparing to start exploration in October,” said the director of the company, Andrew Cochran, at the signing ceremony. The company will spend between 19 to 28 billion kip (US$2 to 3 million) on the exploration process, which will take three years.
“We had already taken a year for a basic study of the project, on which we spent around 9.5 billion kip ($1 million),” said project official Southasen Boulom. The investor can extend the exploration process twice for two years at a time if it is not completed on schedule, according to a press release from the Committee for Planning and Investment.
“The company may spend about 240 billion kip ($25 million) to complete all surveys and exploration,” Southasen said. The cost of this project will be much higher than other mining projects. “The investor has to spend about 96 billion kip ($10 million) to excavate a hole to reach the oil, which will be between 2,000 to 3,000 metres deep,” said the Director General of Department of Geology and Mines, Thongphat Inthavong. Between 1989 and 1996, there were three major investment projects in oil and gas exploration in Laos , none of which were completed.
Source: /www.asianewsnet.net
-- Edited by samakomlao at 17:11, 2007-04-22
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