A vessel for an offshore oil and gas project sank last week off Taninthayi Region’s Dawei district after hitting a rock, but its 42-member crew was swiftly rescued by two motorboats, witnesses said.
“The support vessel hit a rock and sank,” a representative of the company that operated it said. Tin Nila Soe of Hallin Marine Subsea International Ltd. declined to give further details.
The Penrith Hallin capsized near Mawgyi Village in Yephyu Township on January 17, witnesses said. It ran into a massive rock while conducting pipelining services for the Zawtika natural gas project.
It started a four-month project last month, according to a statement from Hallin on December 5.
There was fuel and chemical substances on the vessel, an official at the Dawei Development Association said. The official, who asked not to be named, said concerns were rising about pollution in the area.
Discovered in 2007, the Zawtika gas field is located in the Gulf of Martaban, about 300km south of Yangon and 290km west of Dawei. Its depth ranges between 135m and 160m. Thai-owned PTTEP International has an 80 percent stake in the gas field with the rest owned by state-run Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise.
