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Arakan: - One Who Preserves and Takes Care of Their Own Nationality.

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Arakan Library was founded by a group of Arakan Action Association (AAA) in exile in Thailand from Burma in 2007 doing to voice for the knowledge, the people democratic and human rights.

 

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Oil in Burma
Oil in Burma

by  <Marilyn v. Longuir>

The Arakan Fields

For centuries, oil wells and seepages had existed in Arakan. Some were found along the coast, bordering the Bay of Bengal, but the majority were located on the islands of Boronga near Akyab (present-day Sittwe) and on two islands furthers south, Ramree and Cheduba.

 

The earliest British information on Ramree came from articles written in 1833 and 1835 by Lieutenant W.Foley, who examined mud volcanoes and coal on "Ramri", or Ramree, Island. In 1841 Mr Bogle, an early commissioner, reported that there were several springs of naphtha at Paidong within six miles (10 kms) of the settlement of Ramree. A little later Commander E.P Halstead's "Report on the Island of Chedooba" described amongst other things the collection of oil on this island.

 

Most quoted of the early explorer-geologists was F.R.Mallet, a member of the Geological Survey of India, who contributed articles on the islands to the Records of the Geological Survey of India in 1878. Mallet noted local deposits of oil on Ramree at " Letaung", or Ledaung, near the western coast; at Tsi Chang near Kyaukpyu; at " Minbain", or Minbyin, in later years a most prolific field; at "Likmau," or Leikmaw; also at Kyauk Gale; and near Kangautau. On Cheduba, a smaller island south of Ramree, the wells seemed poor produces and were scattered around the island (Mallet 1878a, 212-17). Mallet appears to have paid only a brief visit to the "Baragas", or Borongas, and although he records occurrences of oil on East, Middle, and Western Boronga Islands, indigenous production of oil appeared to  be very minor compared with Ramree (211-12 and 218-20).