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Total President with French Preside



Subject: Re: Total President with French President in Bangkok Asem Summit

strider will you please post on Burma Net, thank you
Dawn Star, Paris 


Total?s President Thierry Desmarest accompanies French President Jacques 
Chirac in Bangkok at the Asem Summit while Corporate Headquarters denies 
being a source over new Sein gas discovery in Burma. Dawn Star  (UVI.net, 
Paris)

Paris, March 1 - Total?s  President Thierry Desmarest was among the few 
top French executives who accompanied French President Jacques Chirac at 
the Asia-Europe Summit (Asem)  March 1-2, in  Bangkok, according to a 
company spokesman at the Total headquarters in Paris. And while French 
national television has broadcast regular news reports over the 
announcement of an Airbus deal with China, with an estimated worth over 
two billion french francs, there has been a virtual black-out over 
Total?s investment in the billion dollar Yadana gas field in Burma?s Gulf 
of Martaban. In addition to Total, the French are represented by Bertrand 
Collomb, of Lafarge, and Christian Maurin, of the IndoSuez Bank.

Still more surprising,  Total?s corporate in-house spokesman firmly 
denied responsability as the source for recently published reports of a 
new gas discovery, saying any press reports « must have been taken from 
the Thai press communiqué », referring to Total?s partner, PTT 
Exploration & Production.  « We have not announced it, and we have no 
information », he added.

It appears that the French oil and gas conglomerate wishes to avoid all 
publicity over its expansion in this junta-ruled South East Asian 
country. The new well, called Sein - diamond in Burmese - was drilled to 
a total depth ofabout 2,000 metres with two gas productive zones, 
according to executives of PTTEP, and forms part of the group?s effort to 
establish additional gas reserves, on top of Yadana whose recoverable gas 
reserves stand at a world-scale 5.7 trillion cubic feet.

Under fire by human rights groups, and denounced by Burmese opposition 
leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi as part of an overall Slorc-driven investment 
program in Burma that enriches a few corrupt individuals while depleting 
the country?s resources and exploiting poverty of the mass population, 
Yadana is being developed by the energy group, mainly for export to 
Thailand by mid-98. The consortium?s US partner, Unocal, is now under 
fierce attack in the United States by human rights organisations, and 
recently  has hired a local lobbyist charged with the ill-begotten 
purpose to defeat  critical anti-investment Burma selective purchasing 
legislation that is pending in the Massachusetts legislature this month.

Recently, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was quoted in the international press as 
saying that is becoming increasingly obvious that (the government) hasn?t 
 succeeded with their economic policies. Several economists agree, saying 
the military government is selling off  the country?s diminishing natural 
resources to raise money  for massive arms  purchases, and futher admit 
that economic collapse is closer than most people seem to think.

"After I was arrested in 1989, there were no demonstrations," Suu Kyi 
said. "Most observers came to the
conclusion that the NLD (National League for Democracy) was not going to 
win (the 1990 elections), because obviously the people were not 
supporting us enthusiastically." Her party captured 80 percent of the 
vote, but the military government refused to honor the outcome and jailed 
many elected representatives. The recent wave of arrests, NLD leaders 
said, is proof that their movement is growing, not dwindling.

While the military leaders appear confident in the economic future, NLD 
leaders believe the economy will deteriorate, turning the tide in their 
favor. Economic hardships helped spark the 1988 uprising. Aung San Suu 
Kyi attacked the ruling junta?s focus on tourism in remarks published 
last week, urging more investment in schools and hospitals instead of 
hotels and untimely industrial projects like Total?s Yadana pipeline 
consortium deal that includes Thailand?s PTT Exploration & Production PLC 
(PTTEP) and the Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprises (MOGE).
 
 ? What progress has there been in the field of health and education? », 
 Singapore?s « Business Times » quoted the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize winner 
as saying in a recent interview. Daw Aung San  Suu Kyi repeated her call 
for foreign investors to go slow on putting their money into Burma, 
saying, that since her release from six years of house-arrest  there 
hasnot  been any real change in the situation for the people.

ebd