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As Myanmar cracks down on protesters, oil companies keep up controversial ties

071011_burma.jpgFrance’s Total SA and Malaysia‘s Petroliam Nasional Bhd., or Petronas, currently pump gas from fields off Myanmar‘s coast through a pipeline to Thailand, which takes 90 percent of Myanmar‘s gas output, according to Thailand‘s PTT Exploration & Production PLC. But investing in Myanmar has brought accusations that petroleum corporations offer economic support to the country’s repressive regime, and in some cases are complicit in human rights abuses. This week’s bloody clampdowns on protests have escalated the activists’ calls for energy companies to pull out of the country. “They are funding the dictatorship,” said Marco Simons, U.S. legal director at EarthRights International, an environmental and human rights group with offices in Thailand and Washington. “The oil and gas companies have been one of the major industries keeping the regime in power.” (…) Both Total and Chevron broadly defended their business in the nation. “Far from solving Myanmar’s problems, a forced withdrawal would only lead to our replacement by other operators probably less committed to the ethical principles guiding all our initiatives,” Jean-Francois Lassalle, vice president of public affairs for Total Exploration & Production, said this week in a statement. French President Nicholas Sarkozy urged Total this week to refrain from new investment in Myanmar; the French concern said it had not made any capital expenditure there since 1998. Chevron’s interest in the Yadana project is “a long-term commitment that helps meet the critical energy needs of millions in people in the region,” said Nicole Hodgson, corporate media adviser for Asia. Image source: conservativehumanrights.com. > Continue.

 

News selected by Covalence | Region: Myanmar | Company: Total, Chevron, Petronas | Source: International Herald Tribune

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