French oil firm TotalEnergies completely withdraws from Myanmar

PARIS

French oil firm TotalEnergies has made a complete pullout from Myanmar, where the military seized power in 2021.

The energy conglomerate said on Wednesday it had withdrawn its operations effective July 20, 2022 at the main Yadana offshore oil field and from its partnership with gas transportation company MGTC in Myanmar, as both a shareholder and an operator.

“In a context of continued deterioration of the human rights situation in Myanmar, this decision resulted from the assessment that TotalEnergies was no longer able to make a sufficiently positive contribution in the country, and was not able to meet the expectations of stakeholders who were asking to stop the revenues going to the Burmese state through the state-owned company Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprises (MOGE) from the Yadaman field production,” the statement read.

The planned withdrawal comes after TotalEnergies’ initial company statement on Jan. 21, in which it firmly decried the coup that occurred in Myanmar in 2021. At the time, the company halted all existing projects in the country except for oil production at the Yadana field situated in the Andaman Sea, which also supplied the local Burmese and Thai populations.

The January statement also said TotalEnergies’ US partner company Chevron would cease operations there as well, although Chevron has yet to give a firm date for withdrawal.

TotalEnergies operations there will now be assumed by Chevron and PTTEP, the Thai public enterprise.

TotalEnergies held a 31.4% stake in the Yadana field.

The Myanmar coup occurred on Feb. 21, 2021, when the army seized power from the civilian government. TotalEnergies reiterated its stance condemning the current government’s actions in its official statement.

“As TotalEnergies definitively withdraws from Myanmar, our company repeats its condemnation of the abuses and human rights violations taking place in this country and reaffirms its support to the people of Myanmar and its hope for a swift return to peace and rule of law.”