(Repeats story published late Thursday; no changes to text)
YANGON, March 26 (Reuters) - International oil majorsincluding Royal Dutch Shell, Statoil,ConocoPhillips and Total won rights toexplore for oil and gas off Myanmar, according to the SoutheastAsian country's Ministry of Energy.
Myanmar has awarded 10 shallow-water blocks and 10 deepwaterblocks in an auction process that began in April last year,according to a posting on the ministry's website on Wednesday.
Winners of deepwater blocks will be able to explore andoperate the blocks on their own, while shallow-water winnerswill need to work with a registered local partner, according tothe terms of the production sharing contracts.
Myanmar's oil and gas sector attracts the largest share offoreign investment, accounting for $13.6 billion, or 40 percent,of total accumulated foreign investment through September, according to the Central Statistical Organisation (CSO).
Myanmar exported $3.7 billion worth of gas in the fiscalyear to March 31, 2013, mostly to neighbouring Thailand, up from$3.5 billion the year before.
The country's proven natural gas reserves totalled 7.8trillion cubic feet (tcf) at the end of 2012, according to BP'sStatistical Review of World Energy.
A total of 160 local companies have registered with theMinistry of Energy as potential partners for winners of theshallow-water blocks, but industry sources say only a few ofthem have any oil and gas experience.
Contracts winners will have to complete environmental andsocial impact assessments and submit reports to the InvestmentCommission before starting operation.
For a table showing the list of winners, see: (Reporting by Aung Hla Tun; Editing by Tom Hogue)
