TotalEnergies withdraws from Myanmar

TotalEnergies has completed its withdrawal from Myanmar's Yadana gas field and national gas transit company MGTC, due to the country's ongoing human rights concerns.

At Yadana, TotalEnergies and fellow shareholder Chevron are both handing over to Thailand's PTTEP, which currently owns a 37% interest in the gas field. PTTEP will now operate Yadana in partnership with Burmese state-owned company Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise, which has significant ties to the country's military junta. Human rights abuses in Myanmar have escalated since the military overthrew the democratically-elected government in February 2021.

TotalEnergies confirmed January 21 it was no longer able to make a "sufficiently positive" contribution in Myanmar.  Revenues from Yadana field continue to flow to the national oil company and thus the Burmese military state.

The UN recently slammed Burma's military government for showing a "flagrant disregard for human life." Its human rights report indicated Myanmar's military and security forces, under pressure from militias, had bombarded populated areas with airstrikes and heavy weapons, deliberately targeting civilians. This is on top of the continued persecution of the Muslim Rohingya community in Rakhine state, hundreds of thousands of whom were forced to flee to Bangladesh in 2017.