YANGON – French energy giant Total will not halt gas production in coup-hit Myanmar, its chief said today, despite growing calls for foreign companies to sever ties with the junta as it escalates a brutal crackdown on dissent.
CEO Patrick Pouyanne said Total has a duty to stay the course because the gas it produces supplies electricity to millions here, as well as in western Thailand.
“Can a company like Total decide to cut off the electricity supply to millions of people – and in so doing, disrupt the operation of hospitals, businesses?” he said in an interview with Journal du Dimanche.
He said he is “outraged by the repression” in Myanmar, but will refuse to “act to the detriment of our local employees and the Burmese population, who are already suffering so much”.
Hundreds have been killed in demonstrations since the military ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi on February 1, prompting widespread calls for foreign firms to halt operations that benefit the junta.
Italy’s Benetton and Sweden’s H&M have suspended all new orders from the country, and French energy giant EDF suspended its activities, including a US$1.5 billion (RM6.2 billion) project to build a hydroelectric dam.
Demonstrations against the coup – supported by a widespread strike by civil servants – have crippled Myanmar’s economy, leaving gas exports as one of the junta’s main sources of revenue.
The military-controlled Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise has partnerships with Total and United States rival Chevron, and generates annual revenues of around US$1 billion from the sale of natural gas.
Total paid some US$230 million to Myanmar authorities in 2019 and US$176 million last year in the form of taxes and “production rights”, according to the company’s own financial statements.
It has not yet paid any taxes – worth about US$4 million per month – to the military since the putsch, because the banking system in the country has ceased to operate, said Pouyanne.
He said Total decided not to put the taxes into an escrow account, as it could put local managers at risk of being arrested and imprisoned.
The company will donate the “equivalent” of the taxes it owes the Myanmar government to organisations working on human rights in the country, he added. – AFP, April 4, 2021
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