Malaysia's state energy firm Petronas said on Friday that its Myanmar unit had declared force majeure on its Yetagun field on Thursday due to depletion of gas production.
The decision came after challenges that resulted in the production rate dropping below the technical threshold of the offshore gas processing plant, Petronas said in a statement.
It added that the unit, PC Myanmar (Hong Kong) Limited (PCML), had temporarily ceased production until further notice at the Yetagun field, located in the Andaman Sea off Myanmar in Blocks M12, M13 and M14.
Country head Liau Min Hoe said the field was already producing well below the minimum capacity of its facilities before the production halt.
"There has been a drastic decline in production level due to subsurface challenges in the field since January 2021 and it has further deteriorated recently," he said, without giving more details of those problems.
PCML, which has been operating the gas project since 2003, holds a 40.9% participating interest together with an affiliate, while Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise holds 20.5%. Other stakeholders are Nippon Oil Exploration (Myanmar) Limited holding 19.3% and PTTEP International Limited with the remaining 19.3%.
(Reporting by Liz Lee; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne)