Woodside has over 47,000sq.km across six licenses in Myanmar, a hefty slice of its global exploration portfolio, and its two discoveries - Shwe Yee Htun-1 and Thalin-1A - at opposite ends of the Rakhine Basin over the past six months have been early runs on the board.

Chairman Michael Chaney told Woodside's annual general meeting last week that he was "especially pleased" by the success in Myanmar, given it was one of the first western companies to set its sights on the potential riches in the nation, which is transitioning from a brutal military dictatorship to democracy.

"We believe the proximity of these wells and the solid partnerships we have in Myanmar offer enhanced commercialisation possibilities, and we will be working very hard towards that over the next 12-18 months," he said.

Woodside sees traditional markets such as Japan, Korea and China are mature, and may even decline over time, which is why it is positioning itself to participate in new markets such as India. Indonesia and Thailand, in what it believes will be growth gas markets into the 2030s.

So it is deploying capital to areas that it can see the earliest returns.

"We don't want to end up in basins in the world, where explorers put resources on their books, but that they won't be developed in our lifetime," Coleman said.

"The discoveries in Myanmar have a clear line of sight to commerciality."

The thinking is that Myanmar is right on the edge of Asia's established and emerging markets.

"Myanmar is one of the most prospective regions we have seen in a long, long time," Coleman said.

"Notwithstanding some of the transitional issues that Myanmar is dealing with, Woodside and the Australian government have a fantastic relationship there … we believe it can work well and it has good proximity to markets, such as the southern regions of China, Thailand, and Myanmar itself."

The company opened its Myanmar office in 2014 and quickly drilled Shwe Yee Htun-1 in the A-6 block in January with Myanmar Petroleum Resources. It followed that up with a second strike in the AD-7 deepwater block with Daewoo International.

The Shwe Yee Htun-1 exploration well, drilled in some 2030m of water in Block A-6 in western Myanmar, intersected a gross gas column of some 129m, with a more modest 15m net gas pay interpreted within the primary target interval.

Thalin-1A has a 62m thick gas column that is just 60km west of the Daewoo-operated producing Shwe Field, which has onshore gas plant and pipeline gas export facilities.

Shwe, in the Andaman Sea, was discovered in 2004 and developed by and Daewoo, a subsidiary of giant steelmaker POSCO.

The Shwe, Shwe Phyu and Mya offshore gas fields have total proven gas reserves of a combined proven reserve of 5.7-10 trillion cubic feet, and daily production started in 2013, and is ramping up to 700 million cubic feet per day.

Much of the gas is being sold to China under 25-20 year agreement.

Beyond drilling, Woodside is undertaking a massive 30,000sq.km seismic campaign.

Extensive 2D and 3D surveys over Blocks A-4, A-7, AD-2 and AD-5 commenced in late 2015 and are expected to wrap up this quarter.

Seabed coring programs in Blocks A-4 and A-7 commenced in March, and will continue through to May.

The acquisition of additional 3D seismic surveys over Blocks A-6 and AD-7 has been approved and the acquisition of 1200sq.km of data has commenced in AD-7, and some 1800sq.km is being shot in A-6.

Global search

Engaging with Myanmar, which is emerging from decades of military rule, is a key part of Woodside's plans to re-engage with the word after a failed adventure globally earlier last decade.

Coleman says Woodside needs to look beyond Australia because remaining prospectivity is low.

He said the company was looking for material discoveries, and beyond Myanmar it has focused on the Atlantic Margin in areas with minimal surface risks, where Woodside thinks it can bring value and play to its strengths: primarily LNG developments and oil discoveries that can be developed using its role as the operator of some of the largest FPSOs in the world.

"Our FPSO, deep drilling and subsea capabilities gives us a competitive advantage," he said.

"Where you won't see us is onshore in a number of these areas. We don't think that is an area of risk that Woodside is prepared for.

"We made an assessment that that brings too much risk for us as a company, and the maturity of the company doesn't warrant us going there, notwithstanding Canada, which is a very developed country."

Woodside is expected to provide more clarity around its plans in Myanmar at an investor day on May 20.

That could involve an acquisition.

Reuters reported on April 18 that US oiler Chevron Corporation was planning to sell its Myanmar gas assets valued at $1.3 billion, based in the Yadana gas fields, and Woodside is expected to be one of the prospective buyers.