Energy giants Total and Chevron are propping up Myanmar's junta with a gas project that has allowed the regime to stash nearly five billion dollars in Singaporean banks

AFP - Energy giants Total and Chevron are propping up Myanmar's junta with a gas project that has allowed the regime to stash nearly five billion dollars in Singaporean banks, a rights group said Thursday.

France's Total and US-based Chevron have also tried to whitewash alleged rights abuses by Myanmar troops guarding the pipeline, including forced labour and killings, two reports by US-based EarthRights International said.

The group urged the international community to exert pressure on the two companies, which have long managed to avoid Western sanctions against the generals who rule the impoverished Southeast Asian nation.

"Total and Chevron's Yadana gas project has generated 4.83 billion dollars for the Burmese regime," one of the reports said, adding that the figures for the period 2000-2008 were the first ever detailed account of the revenues.

"The military elite are hiding billions of dollars of the peoples' revenue in Singapore while the country needlessly suffers under the lowest social spending in Asia," said Matthew Smith, a principal author of the reports.

The junta had kept the revenues off the national budget and stashed almost all of the money offshore with Singapore's Overseas Chinese Banking Corporation (OCBC) and DBS Group (DBS), the watchdog said.

"The revenue from this pipeline is the regime's lifeline and a critical leverage point that the international community could use to support the people of Burma," added Smith, the group's coordinator for the country.

Total said it was still studying the report, while Chevron said development projects for the project had helped local communities.

"We believe that Total’s health, economic development and education programs, which we support, are critical and substantively make positive improvements to the lives of the people in the Yadana project communities," a Chevron statement said.

Total and Chevron are two of the biggest Western companies in Myanmar and have recently come under fire for their dealings with the regime, following the extension in August of the house arrest of pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi.

Total has been able to continue working there because EU sanctions against the country currently only cover arms exports, wood, minerals, gems and metals.

US lawmakers in July 2008 dropped plans for sanctions that would have ended tax write-offs enjoyed by Chevron and would have pressured it to pull out from the Yadana project.

Total has been a major investor in the Yadana project since 1992, holding a 31.24 percent stake. Chevron has a 28 percent stake in the field, production from which represents 60 percent of Myanmar's gas exports to Thailand.

EarthRights said that as a result of the hidden revenues, Total and Chevron were a "primary reason" why international and domestic pressure on the Myanmar military regime had been ineffective for decades.

The group meanwhile said that impact assessments of the pipeline by US-based CDA Collaborative Learning Projects, a US non-profit organisation commissioned by Total, had covered up adverse effects and abuses, the group said.

Report co-author Naing Htoo said CDA "wilfully participated in whitewashing Total and Chevron's impacts in Burma and their role in forced labour, killings, and other abuses."

CDA visited villages in the pipeline area on five occasions but only with escorts from the oil company and interpreters from Total, while villagers were warned by security members not to give bad news, the report said.

The Chevron statement said however that the firm believed the CDA's findings "provide a credible assessment of the Yadana Project’s community engagement activities."

Myanmar has been ruled by the military since 1962. Its huge natural resources are also a major target for Asian countries, especially China, which eschew western sanctions.

Views: 32

Comment

You need to be a member of 12160 Social Network to add comments!

Join 12160 Social Network

"Destroying the New World Order"

TOP CONTENT THIS WEEK

THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING THE SITE!

mobile page

12160.info/m

12160 Administrators

 

Latest Activity

cheeki kea posted photos
7 hours ago
cheeki kea commented on Doc Vega's blog post Marjory Taylor Green Proposes Bill Abolishing Geoengineering or Weather Modification
" Marjory Taylor green has spent months researching weather modification and it's hard to…"
11 hours ago
Doc Vega posted blog posts
yesterday
Burbia posted a video

A few reasons I don’t like jews. It’s not complicated.

These are the reasons I became antisemitic. It’s not complicated. Sure, I could go on for days, weeks, months outlining everything, but I don’t need to. This...
yesterday
Doc Vega commented on Doc Vega's blog post Unusual Discoveries and Headlines
"Less Prone, Thanks Buddy! I'd like to volunteer as a historical reconstructionist! "
Sunday
Less Prone left a comment for t.me/TheIntelligenceLibrary
"Welcome to a revolutionary concept in public communication, the truth."
Sunday
pohonemas33 team is now a member of 12160 Social Network
Sunday
Less Prone favorited cheeki kea's discussion Tartaria
Sunday
tjdavis's 2 blog posts were featured
Sunday
Doc Vega's 7 blog posts were featured
Sunday
Less Prone commented on Doc Vega's blog post Unusual Discoveries and Headlines
"Some incredible pieces of history!"
Sunday
Less Prone favorited Doc Vega's blog post Unusual Discoveries and Headlines
Sunday
tjdavis posted a blog post
Sunday
Doc Vega posted a blog post

First Week of July 1947 an Inflexion Point for Humanity!

The year is 1947 and sometime around July 4th the anniversary of the birth our nation, when a…See More
Saturday
Doc Vega commented on Doc Vega's blog post Government Issued Wearables? What’s Wrong With this Picture?
"cheeki kea Ha! Good one!"
Friday
tjdavis posted a video

This is Paris Now… You Won’t See This in the Tourist Brochures

In this video, I take you through Marché Barbès and its surrounding neighbourhoods — an area that reflects the modern, complex face of Paris most tourists ne...
Friday
Doc Vega posted a blog post

Trump's Big Beautiful Bill Passes Amidst Democrat Lies About a Tax cut for the Rich Being Averted

AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.It’s over, folks. President Trump and congressional Republicans aimed to…See More
Thursday
Doc Vega posted blog posts
Wednesday
cheeki kea commented on Doc Vega's blog post Government Issued Wearables? What’s Wrong With this Picture?
"I wonder what wearables must have been like before the last reset. "
Jul 2
Burbia commented on Burbia's video
Jul 1

© 2025   Created by truth.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service

content and site copyright 12160.info 2007-2019 - all rights reserved. unless otherwise noted