South Korean resource developer Posco Daewoo Corp. is expected to explore and develop offshore gas field in Bangladesh, hoping to find there a deep-sea jackpot it hit in nearby waters of Myanmar.

According to industry sources on Tuesday, Posco Daewoo was named as a preferred negotiator by the Bangladesh government for a project exploring and developing deep-sea natural gas block 12 in southern sea of the country. The company plans to ink a contract after fine-tuning detail, said an unnamed Posco Daewoo official.

The deep sea block 12 is located near the Thalin-1A gas exploration well in the block AD-7 of Myanmar that the Korean resource developer succeeded in discovering gas reserve in February this year. Given similar geographical features as the block AD-7, there is a good chance the block 12 of Bangladesh would contain similar gas reserves, industry experts said.

Posco Daewoo started commercial production of gas at Myanmar’s offshore blocks A-1 and A-3 in July 2013 and also has been exploring another natural gas well AD-7 after locating a large gas reservoir in February this year.

Although it is yet exploration stage, Posco Daewoo estimates the Myanmar gas fields have 4.5 trillion cubic feet of reserve, enough to cover three years of liquefied natural gas supplies to Korea. It hopes it could dig up similar yield from Bangladesh. The Korean developer hopes to expand exploration elsewhere in Bangladesh waters.

Dhaka Tribune, a local newspaper in Bangladesh, reported Singapore-based Kris Energy, Norway’s Statoil, and Posco Daewoo submitted letters of intent on exploring and developing other deep sea blocks 10 and 11, believed to have commercial value as much as the nearby block 12. Posco Daewoo has not decided to hand in final proposal for the deep sea block exploration project on blocks 10 and 11.

At 1:05 p.m. shares of Posco Daewoo is up 7.7 percent at 27,400 won ($23.5).

By Kang Young-woon

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