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Oil firms provide income behind Myanmar's regime

Despite global outrage over Myanmar's bloody crackdown on dissent, multinational firms are still vying for the country's rich natural resources, throwing an economic lifeline to the military regime.

US energy giant Chevron, French oil group Total and China's top oil producer China National Petroleum Corp are among companies giving much-needed income to Myanmar, defying activists' calls to pull out.

"All the profits go to the regime. These companies don't care about human rights and what is going on in Yangon," said Debbie Stothard, a coordinator of the Alternative ASEAN Network on Myanmar, a pro-democracy body.

Myanmar's junta has been condemned worldwide for launching an offensive against protesters in its main city Yangon, killing at least 13 people, including a Japanese journalist, and jailing hundreds more.

US President George W. Bush last week unveiled new sanctions on the country's ruling generals in a speech he made to the UN General Assembly.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy also urged his country's businesses, including Total, to freeze their investments in the impoverished Southeast Asian nation, which has been ruled by the military since 1962.

Total has a 31 percent stake in Myanmar's major Yadana project, which would carry gas from fields in the Andaman Sea to power plants in Thailand.

The project is jointly run by the state-run Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise, Thailand's top oil exploration firm PTTEP, and US firm Unocal, which has been bought by Chevron. Chevron owns a 28 percent stake in the Yadana fields.

Japan's Nippon Oil Corp, South Korean's Daewoo International, Malaysia's state-run energy firm Petronas, as well as two Indian power giants, Gail India and Oil and Natural Gas Corp, are also jockeying for large contracts.

Nippon Oil said there would be no change in its Myanmar operations following the bloody crackdown on demonstrations, which had steadily grown since Aug. 19 following a massive hike in fuel prices for ordinary people.

"We see the political situation and energy business as separate matters," said a company spokesman in Tokyo.

He declined to specify how much Nippon Oil has invested in Myanmar.

A spokesman for Daewoo, which recently discovered record gas reserves in Myanmar, declined to comment on the clampdown but said: "If South Korea decided to impose sanctions against Myanmar, we would have counterplans for that."

Apart from natural gas, global companies are also seeking Myanmar's teak, forest products, jade, gems, beans and textiles.

"China and Thailand are the major buyers of teak and jade. They just want short-term business interests. They don't care about the lives of Burmese people," said Aung Thu Nyein, a Thailand-based analyst.

Thailand is the biggest buyer of Myanmar's exports, and Thai firms have also heavily invested in the agriculture and tourism sectors in the military-run country.

Another big neighbor, India, is also flexing its economic muscle. Major state-run infrastructure firm RITES has committed to spending US$130 million to develop a port in Sittwe, which lies 560km west of Yangon.

Indian telecom firm TCIL and pharmaceutical company Zydus Cadila are among Indian firms operating in Myanmar.

Russia, which has called the crackdown an "internal matter," also announced in May it would help build a nuclear research center in Myanmar.

Aung Thu Nyein praised Bush's tough measures against the junta and urged the rest of the world to follow the lead of the US, a vocal critic of Myanmar, in an effort to apply more pressure on the military government.
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