Media reports in New Delhi say India has suffered a major setback in its efforts to secure natural gas from Burma.
The reports say Rangoon has agreed to supply gas to China from a gas reserve off Burma's western Rakhine coast known as block A-1.
India has been trying to secure natural gas from Burma since the reserve was discovered in January 2004. New Delhi had offered to build a one-billion-dollar pipeline from the site to India, via Bangladesh.
Hopwever, Burma is said to have effectively rejected India's proposal by signing a deal to sell the gas to Petrochina, a major Chinese energy company. Under the reported agreement, signed last month, Burma will supply the gas to China for over 30 years.
India and China have aggressively competed with each other for access to overseas oil and gas reserves.
Earlier this week, India dropped out of the bidding for a large stake in a Nigerian oil field -- a multibillion-dollar prize that China's largest oil producer won on Monday.
