Foreign Oil And Gas Companies Delay Business, Myanmar's Military Regime Could Lose Revenue Up To 1 Billion US Dollars

Total's Yadana offshore gas drilling rig in Myanmar. (Total Myanmar)

JAKARTA - A number of foreign oil and gas (Migas) companies in Myanmar have been urged to stop their operations and suspend their business, due to the current conditions in Myanmar.

It is known that the Myanmar military regime continued to carry out violence against anti-coup protesters on February 1. As of Tuesday, nearly 200 people were killed, hundreds were injured and more than 2,100 were detained.

This call came from the Acting Minister of Planning, Finance and Industry, who was elected by the Representative Committee of the Parliament of Myanmar (CRPH) U Tin Tun Naing, while sending final notifications to Total SE France, Petronas Malaysia, PTT Thailand to POSCO South Korea.

CRPH said the funds obtained by the Myanmar military regime were used to fight anti-coup protesters. Launching The Irrawaddy, Myanmar generates around US $ 75 million to US $ 90 million per month from oil and gas sales. Nearly all of the revenue was paid to the government through the Myanma Oil and Gas Company (MOGE), the state-owned company now controlled by the military coup leaders.

In a statement, CRPH gave the company a March 9 deadline to impose sanctions on the junta. CRPH said revenue from sales of oil and gas in December 2020 and January 2021 had reportedly been paid into regime-controlled bank accounts.

"We strongly condemn companies that make payments for sales of oil and gas to the regime," said CRPH.

The CRPH also urges companies not to pay taxes until the democratically elected government continues its work.

U Tin Tun Naing said that if the company continued to make payments, it would seriously damage the efforts of the Myanmar people to return the country to democracy. And, the military will be able to use it to continue their human rights abuses in Myanmar.

"We urge you to take immediate action to prevent human rights violations. All stakeholders must immediately coordinate to achieve democracy. This is the last time, we urge you to cooperate with the people in their struggle to overthrow the military dictatorship," he said.

To note, if all foreign oil and gas companies in Myanmar suspend their business and operations, including not paying taxes, the Myanmar military regime has the potential to lose annual revenue of up to 1 billion US dollars.

Total reported that they paid US $ 257 million to Myanmar in 2019 in taxes and other payments. The Yetagun Petronas gas project paid $ 208 million to the government in 2018 while the Shwe project, run by South Korea's POSCO, paid US $ 194 million according to the Myanmar Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (MEITI).

Meanwhile, the Zawtika gas project, which is run by PTT Thailand, paid US $ 41 million in 2018. In addition, the government also received another US $ 300 million in 2018 from the fees paid by the company to use the gas export pipeline.

Separately, the rights group Justice for Myanmar (JFM) has also raised concerns that oil and gas revenues will finance the military regime and enrich its leaders.

"As Myanmar generals seek income to shore up their new dictatorship after the February 1 coup, there is one source of money they can rely on: natural gas projects supported by foreign investors," said JFM.

"If this is business as usual, foreign investors in Myanmar's oil and gas will fund an illegitimate and brutal military regime as they did before 2011, when the country was under full military rule," warned JFM.

The JFM said the coup had left international oil and gas companies with no choice but to end their relationship with MOGE and the military regime that now controls it. The JFM urged the international community to immediately impose targeted sanctions against MOGE and all other military-controlled businesses.

Myanmar Coup. The VOI editorial team continues to monitor the political situation in one of the ASEAN member countries. Casualties from civilians continue to fall. Readers can follow the news surrounding the Myanmar military coup by tapping on this link.