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Tuesday June 10 2:59 AM EDT 

Malaysia's Petronas may buy Texaco's Burma stake

By Raj Rajendran 

KUALA LUMPUR, June 10 (Reuter) - Malaysian national oil firm Petronas is 
studying the purchase of Texaco Inc's 42.9 percent stake in Burma's 
Yetagun gas field, president and chief executive Hassan Marican said on 
Tuesday. 

Texaco (TX) is the largest shareholder and operator of the field, which 
has estimated gas reserves of one trillion cubic feet and lies 125 miles 
off Burma's western coast in the Indian Ocean. It is being commercially 
evaluated. 

Marican said Texaco had appointed an investment banker to look for 
buyers of the U.S. oil giant's stake. 

``We have been approached by the investment banker. Yes, we are looking 
and studying the opportunity,'' he told reporters on the sidelines of an 
industry conference in Kuala Lumpur. 

Texaco has said it might sell the stake. 

Earlier this year, the United States imposed sanctions to protest what 
it called political repression by the ruling military junta, banning 
fresh investment in Burma by U.S. companies. 

U.S. firms have been under pressure to withdraw from Burma by human 
rights activists. High profile names which have pulled out of Burma 
include U.S. soft drinks giant PepsiCo Inc (PEP). 

But oil companies have also faced particular pressure because they tend 
to be the biggest investors in Burma. 

Unocal Corp (UCL) has a 47.5 percent stake in the US$1.2 billion Yadana 
field, which plans to pipe gas to Burma and Thailand. 

Texaco's Yetagun field is due to come on stream in 1999 and the 
consortium has already signed a 30-year deal to sell 200 million cubic 
feet per day of gas to Thailand. 

At Texaco's annual shareholder meeting in May, the company said it might 
sell the Yetagun stake, citing financial rather than human rights 
concerns. 

Later the same month, the U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets 
Control (OFAC) said existing contracts entered into by U.S. companies in 
Burma could proceed. 

There are around 20 U.S.-based companies with direct investment or 
employees in Burma. The largest are Unocal, Texaco and Atlantic 
Richfield Co (ARC), the Washington-based Investor Responsibility 
Research Centre said in May. 

Oil companies have generally argued that unilateral sanctions have not 
worked in the past and the best way to promote change is through 
investment. 

The U.S. efforts to raise human rights to the top of the Asian agenda 
received a severe blow earlier this month when the Association of South 
East Nations (ASEAN) decided to accept Burma, Cambodia and Laos as full 
members. 

They are scheduled to join Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, 
Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam as members of the grouping at a summit 
in Kuala Lumpur next month.

Monday June 9 6:38 PM EDT 

Hearing for Unocal Burma suit delayed

LOS ANGELES, June 9 (Reuter) - Lawyers for activists hoping to block 
Unocal Corp's development of a natural gas project in Burma postponed a 
hearing scheduled for Monday in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles. 

Lawyers for the plaintiffs asked a judge to push the hearing back to 
September or October, but the judge did not set a specific date. 

The $1.2 billion pipeline project is to carry natural gas from offshore 
Burma to Thailand beginning next year. 

The government of Burma, also known as Myanmar, has come under 
international criticism for its alleged human right abuses.


Tuesday June 10 12:43 AM EDT 

Petronas studying buying Texaco's Yetagun stake

KUALA LUMPUR, June 10 (Reuter) - Malaysian national oil firm Petronas is 
studying the purchase of Texaco Inc's (TX) 42.9 percent stake in Burma's 
Yetagun gas field, president and chief executive Hassan Marican said on 
Tuesday. 

Texaco is the largest shareholder and operator of the field, which has 
estimated gas reserves of one trillion cubic feet. 

The field is 125 miles off Burma's western coast in the Indian Ocean and 
is currently being commercially evaluated. 

Marican said Texaco had appointed an investment banker to look for 
buyers of the U.S. oil giant's stake. 

``Wwe have been approached by the investment banker. Yes, we are looking 
and studying the opportunity,'' he said. 

He was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of an energy industry 
conference in Kuala Lumpur. 

The United States has imposed sanctions on Burma, alleging human rights 
abuses by the military led government. The sanctions ban fresh 
investment in the country by U.S. companies. 

Texaco chief executive Peter Bijur said at the company annual 
shareholders meeting on May 13 that the company might sell the stake in 
the gas field. 

The other stakeholders in Yetagun are Premier Oil (PMO.L) of the U.K. 
with 25.8 percent, Nippon Oil (5001.T) with 17.2 percent and Petroleum 
Authority of Thailand's PTTEP (PTTE.BK) with 14.2 percent.



"THERE WILL BE NO REAL DEMOCRACY IF WE CAN'T GURANTEE THE RIGHTS OF THE 
MINORITY ETHNIC PEOPLE.  ONLY UNDERSTANDING THEIR SUFFERING AND HELPING 
THEM TO EXERCISE THEIR RIGHTS WILL ASSIST PREVENTING FROM THE 
DISINTEGRATION AND THE SESESSION."  "WITHOUT UNDERSTANDING THEIR 
STRENGTH, WE CAN'T TOPPLE THE SLORC AND BURMA WILL NEVER BE IN PEACE."



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