France's TotalEnergies leaving Myanmar, resists pressure to withdraw from Russia
French energy company TotalEnergies is leaving Myanmar without any financial compensation, handing over operation of the Yadana gas field to the Thai energy company PTTEP. The company is also under pressure to exit Russia following its invasion of Ukraine.
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"TotalEnergies has chosen to withdraw from Myanmar without seeking any financial compensation for its assets," the company said in a statement Wednesday, two months after it announced it was leaving Myanmar, under pressure from human rights groups to cut ties with the military junta that has been running the country since a coup last February.
The company said that PTTEP – a unit of Thailand's majority state-owned energy firm PTT – will take over operations of the Yadana gas field in the Andaman Sea, which provides electricity to Myanmar and Thailand.
PTTEP said that "continuity in gas production and preventing disruption to energy demand" was of utmost importance.
Human Rights Watch says revenue from the gas field is the single largest source of foreign currency revenue for the junta, which has cracked down on protesters.
According to financial documents, TotalEnergies, which has been in Myanmar since 1992, had paid about 230 million dollars in taxes and production rights to Myanmar officials in 2019, and 176 million dollars in 2020.
American company Unocal-Chevron also announced in January it was planning on pulling out of Myanmar, but has so far remained, and will receive its share of TotalEnergie’s shares.
Other international companies, including French renewable energy firm Voltalia and British American Tobacco have also pulled back from Myanmar since the coup.
Pressure to leave Russia
TotalEnergies is also facing pressure from from activist investors and NGOs to exit Russia following its invasion of Ukraine.
Two French NGOs have threatened the company with legal action over possible human rights abuses unless it cuts its business ties with Russia.
TotalEnergies holds a 19.4 percent stake in Russian gas producer Novatek, and also holds, directly or via Novatek, major liquefied natural gas assets and projects.
Greenpeace France and Les Amis de la Terre (Friends of the Earth) France, in a letter to TotalEnergies CEO Patrick Pouyanne, said the company was "incomplete and insufficient" in addressing human rights violations perpetrated by Russia, which it is legally required to do under a 2017 French law requiring multinationals to be vigilant about violations of human rights associated with their commercial activities in countries affected by armed conflict.
The groups warned TotalEnergies that a French legal entity and its directors may be held criminally liable for complicity in war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The company has condemned Russia's aggression, but has not followed the example of British peers BP and Shell that are withdrawing from Russia.
French government spokesperson Gabriel Attal said TotalEnergies was respecting European Union sanctions against Russia, including a call for no new investments in the country.
(with wires)
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