Myanmar has set to change 6,000 more petrol- and diesel-run motor vehicles into compressed natural gas (CNG)-operated ones this year under a plan to modify all vehicles in the country in terms of fuel operation, the Voice Weekly reported Monday.

To facilitate the conversion, Myanmar has allowed some private industries to carry out the undertakings on buses, trucks, taxis and saloons in addition to the Ministry of Energy and some banks have also been designated to loan for changes for buses, it said.

According to the report, a total of 5,268 motor vehicles in the country had undergone such changes as of January this year since the plan started a decade ago. Of the already converted motor vehicles, 4,521 are in Yangon division, while 325 are in Mandalay division.

Myanmar began the move amid sustained rise of crude oil prices in the world and the plan was introduced due partly to the abundance of natural gas in the country.

Myanmar has been using natural gas limitedly to run cars safely after tests on compressed natural gas were carried out in 1986. Such gas brings benefits of saving of fuel, effective use of locally produced gas, prevention of air pollution, speedy flow of passengers and commodities and catching up with modern technology.

With a total of about 900,000 motor vehicles moving in the country now, of which over half are motorcycles, Myanmar's petrol consumption has at least doubled in the past decade as registered, consuming about 100 million gallons (420,000 tons) of petrol and about 340 million gallons (1.4 million tons) of diesel annually in most recent years.

Although Myanmar produced about 6 million barrels (798,000 tons) of crude oil annually at home, yet it could not meet the demand and had to import about 130 million U.S. dollars worth of the oil per year.

With three main large offshore and 19 onshore oil and gas fields, Myanmar possesses a total of 87 trillion cubic-feet (TCF) or 2.46 trillion cubic-meters (TCM) of gas reserve and 3.2 billion barrels of recoverable crude oil reserve, official statistics show.

Figures also show that in the fiscal year of 2004-05 which ended in March, Myanmar produced 7.48 million barrels of crude oil and 10.69 billion cubic meters (BCM) of gas. Gas export during the year went to 9.5 BCM, earning over 1 billion US dollars.

Source: Xinhua