Despite the actions taken, Total Energies has not been able to meet the expectations of many stakeholders (shareholders, international and Burmese civil society organisations),who are calling to stop the revenues going to the Burmese state through the state-owned company MOGE from the Yadana field production.
In fact, this is materially impossible for Total Energies, as most of the payments for the sale of the gas are made directly by the Thai company PTT, the buyer of the exported gas. Total Energies has also approached the French authorities to consider putting in place targeted sanctions that would confine all the financial flows of the various partners to escrow accounts without shutting down the gas production.
Total Energies has not identified any means for doing so While our Company considers that its presence in a country allows it to promote its values,including outside its direct sphere of operations, the situation, in terms of human rights and more generally the rule of law, which have kept worsening in Myanmar since the coup of February 2021, has led us to reassess the situation and no longer allows Total Energies to
make a sufficiently positive contribution in the country.
As a result, Total Energies has decided to initiate the contractual process of withdrawing from the Yadana field and from MGTC in Myanmar, both as operator and as shareholder,without any financial compensation for Total Energies. This withdrawal has been notified today to Total Energies’ partners in Yadana and MGTC and will be effective at the latest at the expiry of the 6-month contractual period. The agreements also stipulate that, in the event of withdrawal, Total Energies’ interests will be shared between the current partners, unless they object to such allocation, and that the role of operator will be taken over by one of the partners.
During this notice period, Total Energies will continue to act as a responsible operator in order to ensure the continuity of gas deliveries for the benefit of the population.Total Energies has indicated to its partners its willingness to ease the transition to the new operator and facilitate the transfer of staff who so wish.
