Woodside Petroleum Ltd. said on Feb. 12, Australia time, it had discovered gas at its second well off Myanmar, on the opposite side of the offshore Rakhine Basin where it hit gas in January, calling the two finds "very encouraging".

Myanmar is a key focus for Woodside, making up a fifth of its global exploration acreage as it hunts for sources of growth amid a slump in the global oil market and delays in its own development projects.

"These discoveries provide evidence of the high quality of offshore Myanmar as an exploration focus area," Woodside CEO Peter Coleman said in a statement.

The Thalin-1A well had intersected a 64 meter column of gross gas, with 62 meters of net gas pay, with the well having provded there is a "working petroleum system" and a different play type from that encountered at the Shwe Yee Htun-1 well.

The AD-7 block, where the Thalin-1A well was drilled is 60% owned by South Korea's Daewoo International Corp , with Woodside, the operator, owning 40%.

Offshore