Total oil giants leave Chevron Myanmar as a result of human rights violations Oil and Gas News

Total said he was leaving Myanmar because the human rights situation and the rule of law were “deteriorating” after the country’s military took power in a coup last year.

TotalEnergies and Chevron Corp. energy giants have said they are leaving Myanmar because the human rights situation is “deteriorating” and the rule of law is deteriorating, after the country’s military took power in a coup last year.

Friday’s announcement follows a call by France Total a day earlier to impose international sanctions on Myanmar’s oil and gas sector to bail out all revenues after the military cut off Myanmar’s largest foreign source of money. Government in February 2021.

Total, Chevron and other companies were part of the Yadana offshore gas field and an MGTC transportation system that transports gas to the Thai border in Myanmar.

“While our company believes that being in a country allows it to promote its values, including outside of its direct scope of operations, the situation has deteriorated in terms of human rights and the rule of law in general since Myanmar. The coup d’état of February 2021 has led us to reconsider the situation and no longer allow TotalEnergies to make a sufficiently positive contribution to the country, “Total said in a statement.

He added that the French energy giant was withdrawing “without any financial compensation from TotalEnergies”.

Human Rights Watch’s human rights campaign applauded Friday’s announcement, and posted it on Twitter: “The total welcome reflects the importance of avoiding complicity in the atrocities of the Myanmar junta. The next step is to make sure that gas revenues do not finance these atrocities. “

It comes from TotalEnergies #Myanmar: https://t.co/FSa3vvYAlx

Welcome to the move! pic.twitter.com/PneYERytRJ

– Human Rights Watch (@hrw) January 21, 2022

In December, HRW asked Totali to accept sanctions on myanmar-controlled entities that would stop natural gas revenues.

Civil society organizations and Total institutional investors have also pressured the French energy giant to suspend its cooperation with entities controlled by the Myanmar army.

Last year’s coup has sparked popular opposition in Myanmar, and people across the country have taken to the streets to protest the return of a democratically elected government. HRW has documented numerous human rights violations by the Myanmar army against protesters and activists. journalists, and political opposition. Among these abuses, HRW says, are “crimes against humanity,” killing more than 1,400 people.