The French giant TotalEnergies announced on Friday, January 21, its withdrawal from Burma where it was a partner and operator of the Yadana gas field, due to the deterioration of the situation caused by the military coup last year.

"The context which continues to deteriorate (in Burma), in terms of human rights and more generally the rule of law, since the February 2021 coup, has led us to reassess the situation and no longer allows TotalEnergies to make a sufficient positive contribution in this country", explains the group in a press release.

The withdrawal process "provided for in the contracts for the Yadana field and the MGTC transport company in Burma" has been initiated, and this "without any financial consideration for TotalEnergies", specifies the energy giant, established for a long time in the country.

It will be effective at the end of the six-month notice and the interests of TotalEnergies will be divided between the current partners "unless they refuse", while the operations will be taken over by one of them.

TotalEnergies is a partner (31.24%) and operator of the Yadana field (blocks M5 and M6), alongside the Americans Unocal-Chevron (28.26%), PTTEP (25.5%), a subsidiary of the national company of Thai energy, and the Burmese state company MOGE (15%).

"Targeted sanctions"

One year after the February 1, 2021 coup that overthrew Aung San Suu Kyi and ended a decade-long democratic hiatus, Burma remains in chaos.

Anti-junta militias have taken up arms against the generals who are stifling the protest in blood, with nearly 1,500 civilians killed, according to a local human rights association.

On Thursday, the NGO Human Rights Watch had again called on the United States and the European Union to "impose essential measures to target the funds which finance the abusive regime of the junta", after having received a letter from the CEO of TotalEnergies , Patrick Pouyanné, supporting "the implementation of targeted sanctions".

The French group had already put an end to the project to develop a new field, stopped its drilling campaigns and suspended payments to the shareholders of a gas pipeline, among which is a company controlled by the Burmese army.

With AFP

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