Burmese petroleum industry

Myanmar, is a developing country and an important natural gas and petroleum producer in Asia. It is home to one of the world's oldest petroleum industries, with its first crude oil exports dating back to 1853. Today, the country is one of the major natural gas producers in the Asian continent. Decades of isolation, sanctions, a lack of technical capacity, opaque government policies and insufficient investment has impeded the country's efforts to develop an upstream hydrocarbon sector. Recent but slow political reform has led the international community to ease sanctions on Burma, giving rise to hopes of greater investment and economic growth.

Early British explorers in Burma discovered a flourishing oil extraction industry in the town of Yenangyaung in 1795. The area had hundreds of hand-dug oil wells under the hereditary control of 24 Burmese families.

British Burma exported its first barrel of crude oil in 1853. The London-based Burmah Oil Company (BOC) was established in 1871 and began production in the Yenangyaung field in 1887 and the Chauk field in 1902. BOC enjoyed a monopoly in the sector until 1901, when the American Standard Oil Company launched operations in Burma. Oil supplies largely met the demand of British India. Prior to World War II and the Japanese invasion of Burma, oil production stood at 6.5 million barrels annually. After independence in 1948, Burma continued to be one of the more prosperous nations in Asia due to its petroleum industry and agricultural exports.

In 1963, the socialist military government led by Ne Win nationalized the sector, causing decades of economic stagnation.

...
Wikipedia