The Thalin-1A exploration well in the Rakhine Basin has intersected a gross gas column of about 64 m (210 ft), Woodside said in a news release.

The well is located in Block AD-7 in the Bay of Bengal offshore Myanmar. Water depth at the Thalin-1A well location is 836 m (2,743 ft), the release said. The well reached a total depth of 3,034 m (9,954 ft). Following drilling, wireline logging was conducted and confirmed the presence of a gas column through pressure measurements and gas sampling, Woodside said.

The gas discovery follows an earlier gas find by Woodside at the Shwe Yee Htun-1 well in Block A-6, announced on Jan. 4. Woodside CEO Peter Coleman said the two discoveries at opposite ends of the Rakhine Basin was a great result for the company.

“These results are very encouraging for future exploration and appraisal activity, given the significant footprint we have in Myanmar,” he said. “These discoveries provide evidence of the high quality of offshore Myanmar as an exploration focus area.”

Thalin-1A is located in the northern part of the Rakhine Basin about 60 km (37 miles) west of the Daewoo International Corp.-operated producing Shwe Field, which has onshore gas plant and pipeline gas export facilities.

With a 40% interest in AD-7, Woodside Energy (Myanmar) Pte Ltd., is the operator with respect to deepwater drilling, the release said. Daewoo, with a 60% interest, is operator for all other operations. The AD-7 Block’s area was recently expanded north to the Myanmar maritime boundary.

The AD-7 Joint Venture has approved the acquisition of an additional 1,200 sq km (463 sq miles) of 3-D seismic data over this area. The seismic survey is scheduled to begin in March and will facilitate further evaluation and expansion of the prospect portfolio, the release said.