Gas Majors Halt Myanmar Projects While Total Stays Put
(Nikkei Asia) Energy multinationals have decided to halt natural gas development projects in Myanmar amid concerns that the junta is deriving foreign currency from the ventures. But France’s Total is poised to remain, arguing that the public stands to lose from electricity shortages.
Malaysian oil major Petronas announced early this month that it would indefinitely suspend production at the Yetagun gas field off the southern coast of Myanmar. It declared force majeure over “a drastic decline in production level” since January, with output “well below the technical turndown rate,” an executive said in a news release.
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16 April 2021 9:46 GMT Updated 16 April 2021 9:46 GMT in Singapore
Oil and gas companies with assets in restive producer nation Myanmar have responded to growing calls from human rights groups for them to pull the plug on any ties with the military junta that seized power in a shock February coup.
Pro-democracy groups have argued that revenuess from producing gas fields are finding their way into the military’s coffers and they are urging industry players to place funds into escrow accounts while the Myanmar army (Tatmadaw) remains in power.
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14 April 2021 5:24 GMT Updated 14 April 2021 5:24 GMT in Singapore
Security forces in gas-rich Myanmar stepped up their bloody crackdown on pro-democracy supporters this past week, with more than 80 killed in just one day in the city of Bago near the commercial hub Yangon.
However, junta spokesperson Brigadier General Zaw Min Tun told a news conference in the capital Naypyidaw that the country was returning to normal and government ministries and banks would be soon be functioning again.
The country has ground to a virtual standstill because of daily protests and widespread strikes against military rule.
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