Oil and gas
Websites/Multiple Documents
Description:
Myanmar Petrochemical Enterprise ("MPE") is a "100% State Owned Economic Enterprise responsible for Downstream Petroleum Sub-sector". Lists its refineries and plants producing urea fertilizer, methanol, LPG, bitumen, carbon dioxide, lubricants etc. and invites cooperation in this sector
Source/publisher:
Myanmar Ministry of Energy
Date of entry/update:
2010-08-19
Grouping:
Websites/Multiple Documents
Category:
Government of Myanmar (oil and gas), Ministries etc., Publications, ministries, embassies and other Government-related sites, Oil and gas, Ministries
Language:
English
Format :
php
Size:
201 bytes
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Description:
Myanmar Petroleum Products Enterprise is the State-owned Organization vested with authority and responsibility to carry out retail and whole sale distribution of Petroleum products in Myanmar. The Enterprise has conducted the effective and intensive distribution of Petroleum Products, dedicated to Agriculture, Fishery, Transport, Power Generation, Defense, Construction and Industries in the Government Sector and also to the Private Sector from the existing 4 Main Fuel Terminals, 26 Sub Fuel Terminals, 11 Aviation Depots and 256 Filling Stations." Lists its terminals and filling stations and carries an interesting little invitation regarding "Import of Crude Oil, Diesel Fuel and Motor Gasoline on a Deferred Basis
Source/publisher:
Myanmar Ministry of Energy
Date of entry/update:
2010-08-20
Grouping:
Websites/Multiple Documents
Category:
Government of Myanmar (oil and gas), Ministries etc., Publications, ministries, embassies and other Government-related sites, Oil and gas, Ministries
Language:
English
more
Individual Documents
Description:
"Myanmar is planning to build new high-quality oil refineries so as to reduce reliance on the oversea market and to fulfill the local demands for oil products, an official from the Ministry of Electricity and Energy said on Monday.
"Medium oil refineries will be built in Myanmar's central region through China-Myanmar crude oil pipeline and new Integrated Refinery and Petrochemical Complex will be constructed near Yangon region under joint venture (JV) and public-private partnership (PPP) system," said Tin Maung Oo, permanent secretary of the ministry, at a press briefing.
Plans are underway to provide technical assistance and issue temporary licenses to the current operating mini oil refineries with daily production of 3,000 to 30,000 gallons of crude oil for the production of high-quality oil products, he said.
The ministry has already issued operating licenses to 170 private businessmen and also allowed 521 oil refineries to operate so far, he added.
Myanmar's crude oil production recorded 4.297 million barrels in FY 2016-17 and 3.168 million barrels have been produced so far in FY 2019-20 while natural gas production registered 7.67 trillion cubic feet in FY 2016-17 and 670 billion cubic feet have been manufactured so far in FY 2019-20..."
Source/publisher:
"Xinhua" (China)
Date of entry/update:
2020-06-09
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Oil and gas, China-Burma relations
Language:
Local URL:
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Description:
"The energy security concerns of Thailand, India and China greatly
determine their relations with Myanmar. In principle, India and China
have pledged to cooperate in the field of energy security in order to avoid
costly rivalries. In practice, however, commentators expect that the two oilimporting giants will find it more or less impossible to avoid such rivalries.
In relation to Myanmar, this seems difficult indeed. The immediate issue
is competition between India and China over building a pipeline to transport natural gas from Shwe, a gas field off the coast of Myanmar’s Arakan
state. In March 2007, it became clear that China will further consolidate its
ties with Myanmar by building a gas pipeline from the Burmese coast to
Kunming, the capital of China’s Yunnan province. India’s pipeline plans,
negotiated for several years, were finally rejected by the Burmese regime.
A South Korean offer to construct a liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility in Myanmar was also turned down. The Chinese plans include an oil pipeline
as well, probably running parallel to the gas pipeline and intended to carry
Persian Gulf crude oil shipped by tanker to a connecting Burmese port
facility. This makes sense considering the oft-cited Chinese argument that
an oil pipeline through Myanmar will enhance China’s energy security by
serving as an alternative oil supply route bypassing the Strait of Malacca, a
waterway of crucial importance for the provision of oil and other necessities
to China, Taiwan, South Korea and Japan..."
Source/publisher:
"Strategic Analysis"
Date of entry/update:
2020-02-11
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Burma/Myanmar's relationship with the Global Economy, Oil and gas, Burma's economic relations with ASEAN, Burma/Myanmar's Foreign relations, general
Language:
Format :
pdf
Size:
133.07 KB (20 pages)
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Description:
"Myanmar has a total of 2,681 petrol stations across the country and 1,754 of them are located in Mandalay, Bago, Sagaing, Ayeyawady, Yangon and Magway regions, according to the Ministry of Electricity and Energy.
More than 290 petrol stations were allowed in 2019 bringing to 2,681 petrol stations across the country.
There are 95 petrol stations in Nay Pyi Taw, 187 petrol stations in Yangon Region, 655 petrol stations in Mandalay Region, 213 petrol stations in Ayeyawady Region, 267 petrol stations in Bago Region, 193 petrol stations in Magway Region, 239 petrol stations in Sagaing Region, 30 petrol stations in Taninthayi Region, 120 petrol stations in Kachin State, 18 petrol stations in Kayah State, 52 petrol stations in Kayin State, 5 petrol stations in Chin State, 137 petrol stations in Mon State, 38 petrol stations in Rakhine State, 58 petrol stations in eastern Shan State, 195 petrol stations in northern Shan State and 179 petrol stations in southern Shan State.
The fine for misappropriating the quality and measurement of fuel oil is increased up to Ks1 million per case, announced Myanmar Fuel Oil Exporters and Distributors Association on September 27, 2019..."
Source/publisher:
Eleven Media Group (Myanmar)
Date of entry/update:
2020-02-11
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Language:
Local URL:
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Description:
"China imported 10.8 million tonnes of crude oil via the China-Myanmar oil and gas pipeline in 2019, up 6.3 percent year on year, according to the Kunming Customs in southwest China's Yunnan Province.
The Kunming Customs said Tuesday that the import value amounted to 37.7 billion yuan (about 5.5 billion U.S. dollars), up 3.9 percent.
Meanwhile, the imports of natural gas from Myanmar amounted to 3.4 million tonnes, up 54 percent from 2018, with a total value of 12.1 billion yuan, an annual increase of 74.1 percent.
Crude oil started entering China via the 1,420-km China-Myanmar crude oil pipeline from June 2017, and the China-Myanmar natural gas pipeline was put into operation in July 2013.
According to the Dehong oil and gas transmission branch of the China National Petroleum Corporation, China has imported about 26.9 million tonnes of crude oil and 24.6 billion cubic meters of natural gas through the China-Myanmar oil and gas pipeline..."
Source/publisher:
"Xinhua" (China) via "China.org.cn" (China)
Date of entry/update:
2020-01-15
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Language:
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Description:
"A new cooperation deal between the Myanmar government and private energy company, MPRL E&P, will bring good news for Thailand's power generation sector, Myanmar's Ministry of Electricity and Energy said in a statement on Monday.
The statement was issued after MPRL E&P, a Myanmar-based independent energy company, successfully concluded negotiations with Yangon on two key agreements on fiscal terms and the sharing of output from the A-6 offshore gas bloc in Myanmar.
MPRL E&P is the only independent energy exploration company in Myanmar which actively explores both onshore and offshore wells in the country.
In the statement, MPRL E&P said the talks resulted in a number of improvements in negotiating terms, which will be crucial to the economic viability of the gas exploration project, which is located in deep waters off the Myanmar coast..."
Source/publisher:
"Bangkok Post" (Thailand)
Date of entry/update:
2020-01-14
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Language:
Local URL:
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Sub-title:
Total/Woodside Energy’s block A-6 project in the Rakhine basin offshore Myanmar will be the country’s first ultra-deepwater development.
Description:
"Total/Woodside Energy’s block A-6 project in the Rakhine basin offshore Myanmar will be the country’s first ultra-deepwater development.
The block covers an area close to 10,000 sq km (3,861 sq mi) in water depths of up to 2,300 m (7,546 ft).
Woodside has a 40% interest in the joint venture and is the technical joint operator for exploration and appraisal operations.
MPRL E&P with 20% is also a joint operator. Total, which has a 40% interest, will assume operatorship during the development phase. According to Woodside, the partners aim to start front-end engineering design during the second half of this year.
Since 2018 when the Shwe Yee Htun-2 discovery well delivered 40 m (131 ft) of net gas pay, five more wells have been drilled, all encountering gas. Woodside estimates the combined resource at 67 MMboe..."
Source/publisher:
"Offshore Oil and Gas Magazine"
Date of entry/update:
2020-01-10
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Oil and gas, Burma/Myanmar's relationship with the Global Economy
Language:
Local URL:
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Sub-title:
Government will open 33 new blocks for foreign bidding but investors are wary of regulatory risks
Description:
"Myanmar’s government is expected to announce major new bidding for natural gas exploration, including 15 offshore and 18 onshore blocks, in a bid to give the sluggish but potentially lucrative industry a much-needed capital infusion.
But while a new exploration agreement signed last month between Myanmar’s MPRL E&P Company, France’s Total and Australia’s Woodside Energy have given the sector a huge boost, investors are still wary about the industry’s policy direction.
Block A6, an Ayeyarwady Region joint venture in which Total holds 40%, Woodside 40% and MPRL E&P Co 20%, will be Myanmar’s first ultra-deepwater natural gas field project. It is also the only new gas development to be started under de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s nearly four-year-old administration.The field is estimated to contain 2-3 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, with a projected daily output of 400 million standard cubic feet. That represents more than a fifth of Myanmar’s existing daily output..."
Source/publisher:
"Asia Times" (Hong Kong)
Date of entry/update:
2020-01-08
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Language:
Local URL:
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Description:
"The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) an international watchdog on the oil, gas and mining industry recently has called on Myanmar to improve public disclosure on gemstone production and state-owned enterprises, the News Straits Times reported.
It also asked the government to clarify the status of military-affiliated extractive companies and their activities in the country.
The EITI board announced that Myanmar has achieved meaningful progress towards implementing impactful standards.
However, the statement emphasised the need for Myanmar to further improve public disclosure around license allocation, gemstone production data and state-owned enterprises..."
Source/publisher:
"Mizzima" (Myanmar)
Date of entry/update:
2019-10-22
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Language:
Local URL:
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Description:
"In 2015, Burma (also known as Myanmar) produced a
variety of mineral commodities, including antimony, cement,
coal, copper, lead, manganese, natural gas, nickel, petroleum,
petroleum products, precious and semiprecious stones, tin,
tungsten, and zinc. On July 30, Cyclone Komen brought heavy
rains that caused widespread flooding and landslides across
12 out of 14 States and regions in the country. Chin and Rakhine
States and the Magway and Sagaing regions were declared
natural disaster areas. Basic infrastructure around the country,
such as roads and bridges, was severely damaged or destroyed,
which impeded traffic within and among the affected areas.
In the aftermath, the performance of the mineral industry was
affected as many mineral facilities were located in the areas
(tables 1, 2; ReliefWeb.com, 2016).
According to data published by the Central Statistical
Organization, since the opening of Burma’s economy in 2011,
many sectors of the country’s economy had seen a surge
in foreign direct investment (FDI). FDI in fiscal year 2015
(April 1, 2014, to March 30, 2015) amounted to $8 billion
invested in a total of 211 projects. In fiscal year 2016, FDI
amounted to $9.5 billion invested in a total of 213 projects,
including $4.8 billion invested in 13 projects in the oil and gas
sector and $28.9 million invested in 1 project in the mining
sector. Investors in fiscal year 2016 included those from
Singapore (55 projects), China (43), Japan (25), Hong Kong
(23), and India (5), among others. Burma’s leading investor was
Singapore, which invested about $4.2 billion, followed by China
($3.3 billion), Hong Kong ($231 million), India ($224 million),
and Japan ($220 million) (Central Statistical Organization, 2016).
In recent years, many legal instruments had been introduced
in Burma’s legal and regulatory framework, mainly to
encourage the participation of foreign and local investors
in the country’s economy. In June 2015, a new draft of the
Myanmar Company Law was published to replace the Myanmar
Companies Act of 1914. The new company law was drafted by
the Department of Investment and Company Administration of
the Ministry of National Planning and Economic Development
with the assistance of the Asian Development Bank. The new
law is intended to update the previous version of the law
by incorporating consistent international best practices
(Greenlee, 2015).
Other legal instruments include the Foreign Investment Law
of 2012, the Foreign Investment Rules of 2013, and Notification
No. 49/2014 (New Notification) of August 2014, which were
issued by the Myanmar Investment Commission (MIC).
According to the Myanmar Ministry of Mines, the set of laws
and notifications related to FDI were created to attract interest
from investors and include such provisions as tax exemptions,
tax holidays, and income tax relief, granting full venture
ownership to foreign investors, and a Government promise
not to nationalize businesses while the contract is in place...".
Yolanda Fong-Sam
Source/publisher:
United States Geological Survey (USGS)
Date of publication:
2018-09-30
Date of entry/update:
2019-02-12
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Mining, Oil and gas
Language:
English
Local URL:
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Description:
"... In debates about economic globalisation, the case for leading corporations to engage with some of the world?s most desperate development challenges is increasingly
heard. In just the last few years, the World Bank and Mandle have shown that economic globalisation can operate to the benefit of the poor, Bhagwati and Wolf have issued powerful defences of globalisation, and Friedman has urged individuals, corporations and governments to seize the opportunities present in the increasingly "flat" world in which we live.2 From the peak of the international political system, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has endorsed all these arguments by holding that it is "the absence of broad-based business activity, not its presence, that condemns much of humanity to suffering."3 To stimulate action, he sponsored the UN Global Compact, dedicated to promoting responsible corporate citizenship throughout the
world, and appointed its principal author, Kennedy School Professor John Ruggie, to the position of Special Representative on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises.
However, despite all the mood music lauding the contribution business can make to development, it remains an open question whether corporate engagement, and in particular inward investment, should take place in extreme contexts. On the one hand, foreign capitalist involvement in some industries, notably resource extraction, has long been seen as highly exploitative. For decades, neo-Marxist
critiques of capitalist underdevelopment held sway, stressing the extent of local state dependence on foreign capitalist interests, and the catastrophic impact of corporate engagement on local economic, social and political evolution.4 Notions of captured, rentier states mired in corruption and committed to systematic exploitation of Third World populations were commonly encountered. Few other than baleful local effects, generated by unprincipled involvement on the part of foreign corporations, were recorded. Today, criticism of this kind continues to be heard in, for example, responses to the World Bank?s Extractive Industries Review, released in December 2003, which itself reached rather equivocal conclusions.5 Under the influence of more recent analyses of economic globalisation and its effects, should such activity now be encouraged? As economies are opened to the forces of global capitalism, is resource extraction to be placed alongside other corporate activity as positive and
constructive in its contribution to pro-poor policies?
On the other hand, all forms of corporate engagement with regimes that commit gross human rights violations are widely viewed as thoroughly unprincipled. For many years now, the sanctions lobby has trained a moral spotlight on inward investment in countries dominated by violator regimes. While the condemnation, and the resultant corporate pullouts, have always been highly selective, picking up on, say, Myanmar in the Asian context but making little comment on China, they have been no less powerful for that. Indeed, informal sanctions, targeting brands and
corporations with a great deal to lose from negative publicity, have often been much more potent than formal government sanctions applied by the US and some of its
allies.6 Again, under the influence of the latest writings on economic globalisation, should this activity also now be endorsed? Even in the most unpromising domains, can profits and principles be secured in tandem?7
This article tackles these issues by focusing on one very specific development context: Myanmar, or the country formerly known as Burma. By almost any definition, this is a difficult environment for poverty reduction.8 It is also one of the most unpromising settings for business activity, ranking last out of the 127 countries included in the Fraser Institute?s Economic Freedom of the World Index
for 2003.9 Furthermore, the kinds of extreme circumstance that generate the greatest development challenges are readily found here. Global corporations are engaged
in extractive activities that provoke fierce critiques. Reports published over many years by Amnesty International, EarthRights International, Human Rights Watch and other organisations document gross human rights abuse by government-backed forces in virtually all parts of a country of more than 50 million people.
Within this context, the article examines one particularly controversial extractive enterprise: the Yadana gas project, in which Western oil companies have long been prime movers. The debate that encircles this project is of course not unique. It is nestled in a broader discourse about corporate engagement with rights violating regimes all over the world, and reflected in specific ethical controversies thathave flared up in recentyears.11 When companies such as Carlsberg, Heineken, Levi Strauss and Reebok pulled out of Myanmar in the early and mid-1990s, they made public the moral concerns that prompted their decisions.12 Equally, some corporations targeted by campaigners have issued ethical justifications for ongoing
engagement.13 Similar divisions are visible in other spheres. While the Global Fund made a high-profile withdrawal from Myanmar in August 2005, citing intolerable
official interference in its work to combat AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria, key internal groups such as the National League for Democracy and the Student Generations Since 1988 now call for humanitarian intervention; and international agencies such as Save the Children USA continue to operate inside the country.14 The Yadana project is special because this single case encapsulates Western corporate involvement in resource extraction in a highly repressive context. It also has the virtue of being very well documented.
The article addresses two main questions. First, is the involvement of foreignowned corporations in Myanmar?s Yadana project to be welcomed? Second, with the experience gained from this involvement, can wider lessons about global corporate citizenship be drawn? To generate answers, the first section of the article provides some brief background material on the Yadana project. The second section then examines the cases made by its backers and critics, and evaluates the project from the perspective of its impact on the people of Myanmar. The third section focuses on wider lessons for corporate engagement that flow from the project, and in particular, the conditions in which inward investment in repressive settings is likely to be most constructive and positive in its effects. Applying these conditions to Myanmar, the fourth section considers ways forward for corporate involvement with the country.
The article closes with a brief conclusion. The argument is that it is not possible to reach an overall evaluation of the Yadana project. However, some principles of responsible cross-border corporate engagement can be derived from it..."
Ian Holliday
Source/publisher:
City University of Hong Kong
Date of publication:
2008-01-02
Date of entry/update:
2016-04-22
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Minerals and Mining - Burma (general articles and analyses), Oil and gas, Oil and gas, Oil and gas pipelines, Yadana Field - (Total, Chevron, PTTEP, MOGE)
Language:
English
Format :
pdf
Size:
1.62 MB
Local URL:
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Description:
"... This survey examines the state of disclosure of Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA) and Initial Environmental Examinations (IEE) conducted by oil and gas companies in Myanmar who were awarded blocks after 2013.
The survey reveals that 11 out of 19 offshore blocks (58%) have disclosed IEEs and 4 out of 15 onshore blocks (26%) have disclosed EIAs. It identifies the companies who have disclosed, and those who have not. It provides links to the IEE/EIA reports, and associated Environmental Management Plans (EMPs). The Executive Summaries of most disclosed IEE/EIA are available in Burmese as well as English, in line with the emerging guidance from MOECAF. The overall level of disclosure in the oil and gas sector is superior to other sectors in Myanmar where the IEE/EIA process has yet to be consistently applied, such as mining and construction.
However some oil and gas companies have not disclosed their IEE or EIA reports. These are predominantly those with onshore blocks, who are mostly smaller companies and with fewer public commitments to operating to global standards than the offshore operators. They signed contracts 6-12 months earlier and may have undertaken their EIA/IEE in 2014.
The survey does not attempt to comment on the quality of these IEE/EIA. However a quick review and anecdotal evidence suggests that the IEE/EIA reports disclosed by international oil/gas companies, who have used experienced international EIA consultancy firms partnering with Myanmar EIA consultancies, are generally of a higher quality ? and cost - than those seen by MCRB for projects in other sectors in Myanmar. It is hoped that their example will lead to a raising of standards for EIA and disclosure across all sectors.
The survey also analyses the challenges faced by companies in complying with the new requirement for IEE/EIA and disclosure, and makes recommendations for how these can be
addressed. The issue of pre-existing projects is highlighted, which, under Article 8 of the new EIA Procedures, need to take steps to obtain an Environmental Compliance Certificate.
The rationale for undertaking this research assumes that website disclosure, in addition to being a legal requirement under the new EIA procedures, will allow stakeholders to access and read the reports. These stakeholders ? who may include national and regional
government officials and parliamentarians, civil society organisations, local communities and the media ? will therefore have the opportunity to study the assessments and engage critically with companies over the contractual commitments included in them, and hold companies to
account for their environmental and social performance.
However this requires those stakeholders to ?do their homework? and read the IEE/EIA. This survey is therefore also intended to raise awareness of the availability of these assessments; encourage stakeholders to read and engage with the EIA process; and encourage development partners to build their capacity to do so..."
Inna Lazareva, Vicky Bowman
Source/publisher:
Myanmar Centre for Responsible Business (MCRB)
Date of publication:
2016-02-29
Date of entry/update:
2016-04-18
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Language:
English
Format :
pdf
Size:
710.4 KB
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Summary: "In 2008, Myanmar?s military rulers ratified a new constitution that ensured their continued monopoly of the country?s natural resources. Section 37 (a) states:
?the Union is the ultimate owner ofall lands and all natural resources above and below the ground, above and beneath the water and in the atmosphere”
Under this constitution, the central government in Naypyidaw is not only the owner of all natural resources in the country; it also controls and manages them, enacting ?necessary laws for extraction.” This centralized control has had disastrous effects in widening inequality, fueling a cycle of conflict and violence, and depleting non-renewable resources that could be the basis of a sound economy for future generations.
Arakan State provides a perfect illustration of this and lies at the heart of one of Myanmar?s most sought after resources: natural gas. The Shwe project now produces 500 million cubic feet of natural gas per day, yet none of this is used to provide electricity in Arakan State. While local communities bear livelihood and environmental destruction, human rights abuses and land confiscation, the gas is sold to China and more than one billion USD annually flows to Naypyidaw. There, accounting of the revenues remains opaque and reinvestment in Arakan?s infrastructure, education, and health is practically non-existent. The state is the second poorest in the country
Until now, the military, the central government, and foreign investors have taken advantage of the centralized governance structure and a lack of protection mechanisms to make all the decisions around natural resources and reap most of the benefits. In contrast, devolving the powers to manage resources to lower levels of government will establish political, administrative, and fiscal structures so that decisions around the use of natural resources can be made at local levels with input from affected peoples. This distribution of powers makes natural resource management more accountable to the needs of local communities and will therefore ensure a more sustainable development.
Drawing on the Arakan Oil Watch?s decade-long work with communities affected by natural resource investments and experiences from resource-rich countries around the world, we find six critical components to achieve sustainable natural resource management in Myanmar. They are:
1. Build peace: A moratorium on high-value natural resource extraction until political agreements and new legislation have been finalized will reduce tensions and conflict and allow time for protection laws and institutions to be established. Peace
4
agreements that specify division of powers—such as the one in Papua New Guinea—will help prevent conflicts from re- emerging and enable subnational governments to proceed with establishing their own governance structures.
2. Broaden participation: Engaging people in the process of managing their own resources and ensuring that they receive benefits from their resources will prevent resentment and reduce conflicts. Strengthening formal participation, as is done in Latin America with community referendums, will provide immediate input from affected communities and community- based organizations on natural resource projects as well as on long-term planning decisions.
3. Decentralize governance: Transferring significant powers of authority from Naypyidaw to civilian-led state and regional governments through statutory and constitutional provisions will bring decision-making closer to affected people and make development processes more efficient and equitable.
4. Decentralize ownership of natural resources: Amending Section 37 (a) of the national constitution to enable states and regions to own their natural resources will address longstanding calls for more autonomy from ethnic organizations, contributing to long lasting peace.
5. Decentralize control and management of natural resources: Amending Section 37 (b) of the national constitution so that states and regions can control and manage their lands and natural resources, including the decision whether or not non-renewable resources should be extracted. State and regional governments will also then be able to establish appropriate laws and institutions for economic planning, regulation and monitoring of extractive industries, and rights protection for current and future generations.
6. Decentralize collection of natural resource revenues:
Providing legislative powers for states and regions to collect significant taxes will enable responsive local governments to manage their own budgets and allocate funds according to local plans and needs, reducing time consuming and costly bureaucracy at the national level, and better serving local populations.".....This Burmese version has been drastically reduced using OCR software, resulting in some blurred text and some pages split in half. We will replace this version if/when we get a better one.
Source/publisher:
Arakan Oil Watch
Date of publication:
2016-01-31
Date of entry/update:
2016-03-26
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Language:
Burmese (မြန်မာဘာသာ)
Format :
pdf pdf pdf pdf
Size:
6.52 MB 129.1 MB 5.77 MB 4.46 MB
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Description:
Summary: "In 2008, Myanmar?s military rulers ratified a new constitution that ensured their continued monopoly of the country?s natural resources. Section 37 (a) states:
?the Union is the ultimate owner ofall lands and all natural resources above and below the ground, above and beneath the water and in the atmosphere”
Under this constitution, the central government in Naypyidaw is not only the owner of all natural resources in the country; it also controls and manages them, enacting ?necessary laws for extraction.” This centralized control has had disastrous effects in widening inequality, fueling a cycle of conflict and violence, and depleting non-renewable resources that could be the basis of a sound economy for future generations.
Arakan State provides a perfect illustration of this and lies at the heart of one of Myanmar?s most sought after resources: natural gas. The Shwe project now produces 500 million cubic feet of natural gas per day, yet none of this is used to provide electricity in Arakan State. While local communities bear livelihood and environmental destruction, human rights abuses and land confiscation, the gas is sold to China and more than one billion USD annually flows to Naypyidaw. There, accounting of the revenues remains opaque and reinvestment in Arakan?s infrastructure, education, and health is practically non-existent. The state is the second poorest in the country
Until now, the military, the central government, and foreign investors have taken advantage of the centralized governance structure and a lack of protection mechanisms to make all the decisions around natural resources and reap most of the benefits. In contrast, devolving the powers to manage resources to lower levels of government will establish political, administrative, and fiscal structures so that decisions around the use of natural resources can be made at local levels with input from affected peoples. This distribution of powers makes natural resource management more accountable to the needs of local communities and will therefore ensure a more sustainable development.
Drawing on the Arakan Oil Watch?s decade-long work with communities affected by natural resource investments and experiences from resource-rich countries around the world, we find six critical components to achieve sustainable natural resource management in Myanmar. They are:
1. Build peace: A moratorium on high-value natural resource extraction until political agreements and new legislation have been finalized will reduce tensions and conflict and allow time for protection laws and institutions to be established. Peace
agreements that specify division of powers—such as the one in Papua New Guinea—will help prevent conflicts from re- emerging and enable subnational governments to proceed with establishing their own governance structures...
2. Broaden participation: Engaging people in the process of managing their own resources and ensuring that they receive benefits from their resources will prevent resentment and reduce conflicts. Strengthening formal participation, as is done in Latin America with community referendums, will provide immediate input from affected communities and community- based organizations on natural resource projects as well as on long-term planning decisions...
3. Decentralize governance: Transferring significant powers of authority from Naypyidaw to civilian-led state and regional governments through statutory and constitutional provisions will bring decision-making closer to affected people and make development processes more efficient and equitable.
4. Decentralize ownership of natural resources: Amending Section 37 (a) of the national constitution to enable states and regions to own their natural resources will address longstanding calls for more autonomy from ethnic organizations, contributing to long lasting peace...
5. Decentralize control and management of natural resources: Amending Section 37 (b) of the national constitution so that states and regions can control and manage their lands and natural resources, including the decision whether or not non-renewable resources should be extracted. State and regional governments will also then be able to establish appropriate laws and institutions for economic planning, regulation and monitoring of extractive industries, and rights protection for current and future generations...
6. Decentralize collection of natural resource revenues:
Providing legislative powers for states and regions to collect significant taxes will enable responsive local governments to manage their own budgets and allocate funds according to local plans and needs, reducing time consuming and costly bureaucracy at the national level, and better serving local populations."
Source/publisher:
Arakan Oil Watch
Date of publication:
2016-01-31
Date of entry/update:
2016-03-23
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Language:
English
Format :
pdf
Size:
1.24 MB
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Description:
"Three of the country?s four offshore gas fields are to be shut down in April ?for annual maintenance”, according to a senior official with Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise...The Yadana, Yetagun and Zawtika gas fields are to be halted for about a week each at the end of April, said the official, who is an offshore director but declined to be named.
?We have negotiated with PTT [the gas buyer] for gas exports, and with the Ministry of Electric Power for domestic supply, to arrange a shutdown of the gas fields for maintenance,” he said yesterday.
?It will start in April around the time of the water festival.”
Thailand relies heavily on natural gas for 70 percent of its electricity generation, with about one-fifth of its supply coming from Myanmar, according to Reuters.
Yadana and Yetagun will be shut down for maintenance from April 10 to 19 and Zawtika from April 20 to 27, according to Reuters news agency, which quoted a statement from Thailand?s state-owned PTT..."
Aung Shin
Source/publisher:
"Myanmat Times"
Date of publication:
2015-03-10
Date of entry/update:
2015-03-10
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Oil and gas
Language:
English
Local URL:
more
Description:
"On remote Madae Island on Myanmar?s western coast, the Chinese state-owned China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), is constructing a huge seaport, oil terminal and oil and gas pipeline to China for shipping more than 80% of China?s imported oil from the Middle East and Africa without people?s consent, and without implementation of EIA, SIA and FPIC. The construction of these projects has resulted in human rights abuses, massive land confiscation, environmental destruction and destruction of the islanders? livelihoods and farmlands. Islanders are living in fear of an accident or explosion resulting from the oil terminal, oil and gas pipeline and China?s oil tankers which plan to dock in this area in 2015.
Madae Island is a small island located in the Kyauk Phyu township of Arakan State, on the West coast of Myanmar. The island has been inhabited by indigenous peoples for centuries. Over 800 households and 3000 people live in four villages on Madae Island, mostly consisting of fishermen and farmers.
CNPC?s projects on Madae Island is not benefiting local Madae islanders, Arakan State or the rest of the people in Myanmar.
The video documentary was conducted in late 2013 and 2014. "
Source/publisher:
Arakan Oil Watch
Date of publication:
2014-12-31
Date of entry/update:
2015-01-15
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Oil and gas
Language:
English, Burmese/ မြန်မာဘာသာ
Local URL:
more
Description:
" Ramree Island, Myanmar - Zaw Myint looked quizzical as he sniffed a handful of grey sludge. He had just pulled the mud up from the bottom of an oil well he?s digging on Myanmar?s impoverished western coastline, hoping for the sweet whiff of black gold.
"The money I get working here is good," Zaw Myint said, standing in a shallow pool of water that glistened with the sheen of oil.
However, Zaw Myint?s success may soon change. Big Oil is hot on his trail.
Companies from the United States, Europe, Japan and Singapore are elbowing their way into the country they turned their backs on during the past two decades because of its appalling human rights abuses.
The country fell into China?s less scrupulous embrace and, for two decades, Myanmar was the monogamous partner in a loveless marriage of convenience. Western nations are moving into the resource-rich country after decades of disinterest, challenging China?s interests... In 2011, fearing the country was sliding towards Chinese client statehood, Myanmar began a process of liberalising the economy, releasing political prisoners, and rebalancing foreign relations.
As Myanmar took its first baby-steps towards democracy, Western nations eased economic sanctions. Last year, Myanmar?s President Thein Sein met with US President Barack Obama at the White House, the first such visit by a Myanmar head of state in almost 50 years.
China is no longer Myanmar?s only suitor; she?s being courted, she?s seeing other people. It?s complicated...
Burmah Oil:
Myanmar is one of the world?s oldest oil producers, exporting its first barrel in 1853. Its discovery by British colonisers prompted the creation of the Burmah Oil Company, an early shareholder of the company that would later become oil giant BP. ..."
Hereward Holland
Source/publisher:
Aljazeera
Date of publication:
2014-10-17
Date of entry/update:
2014-10-21
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Oil and gas
Language:
English
Local URL:
more
Description:
"Corrupt politicians all over the world use companies and trusts with hidden ownership to seize public
property worth billions of dollars. This deprives ordinary citizens of money that should be spent on
development and empowers unaccountable elites, often helping them gain and maintain power at the
expense of democracy, human rights and peace.
Revealing the real people behind companies is critical to achieving genuine reform in Myanmar, where
military families and crony tycoons have long benefited from control of natural resources like gas and
gemstones. This is a critical time—in July 2014, Myanmar became a candidate member of the Extractive
Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), a global transparency standard which recommends that the
identities of individuals who own and control oil, gas and mining companies are published. If Myanmar
can meet the standard, it will go a long way to addressing the question of who really owns the companies
that control the country?s most valuable natural assets.
To test the waters, Global Witness asked each of the companies granted oil and gas blocks in Myanmar
over the past 12 months to declare their ultimate beneficial ownership. These blocks were awarded in
the wake of a public commitment by the Ministry of Energy to manage Myanmar?s energy sector in line
with international best practices, and alongside the engagement of leading energy companies in Myanmar?s
EITI process.
As such, the willingness of block winners to open up their ownership is an important yardstick for progress
on reform of Myanmar?s extractive industries..."
Source/publisher:
Global Witness
Date of publication:
2014-09-30
Date of entry/update:
2014-10-14
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Language:
English, Burmese (မြန်မာဘာသာ)
Format :
pdf pdf
Size:
1.25 MB 1.75 MB
more
Description:
" The Oil & Gas Sector-Wide Impact Assessment (SWIA), developed by the Myanmar Centre for Responsible Business (MCRB) in partnership with its co-founders, the Institute of Human Rights and Business and the Danish Institute of Human Rights, is intended to support responsible business practices in this growing sector of Myanmar?s economy. The Myanmar Oil & Gas SWIA puts detailed information on potential impacts of the sector into the public domain for uptake and use by a wide range of audiences. It assesses not only localised impacts on individuals and groups that may arise from projects in the sector, but also cumulative impacts and the sector?s potential impacts on Myanmar society as a whole. This is important because: Myanmar is currently facing a rapid increase in investment in its oil and gas (O&G) sector with the award of 16 onshore and 20 offshore blocks in the space of 12 months in 2013-2014 Even though the country is emerging from decades of ethnic conflict, authoritarian rule and economic isolation it is, and will remain for some time, a high-risk country with poor governance. An understanding of the potential impacts of the sector is necessary to improve the outcomes for Myanmar and its people. Responsible business conduct in the Oil & Gas sector in Myanmar therefore requires enhanced due diligence to determine what impacts business activities may have on society, including on human rights. This must include robust approaches to managing those impacts. The Oil & Gas SWIA is intended to be a resource for these efforts. The recommendations in the SWIA are directed towards government, businesses (and investors in those business), civil society and development partners for Myanmar, and are intended to support wider multistakeholder collaboration..."
Source/publisher:
The Myanmar Centre for Responsible Business
Date of publication:
2014-09-04
Date of entry/update:
2014-10-02
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Oil and gas
Language:
English
Local URL:
more
Description:
" The Oil & Gas Sector-Wide Impact Assessment (SWIA), developed by the Myanmar Centre for Responsible Business (MCRB) in partnership with its co-founders, the Institute of Human Rights and Business and the Danish Institute of Human Rights, is intended to support responsible business practices in this growing sector of Myanmar?s economy.
The Myanmar Oil & Gas SWIA puts detailed information on potential impacts of the sector into the public domain for uptake and use by a wide range of audiences. It assesses not only localised impacts on individuals and groups that may arise from projects in the sector, but also cumulative impacts and the sector?s potential impacts on Myanmar society as a whole.
This is important because:
Myanmar is currently facing a rapid increase in investment in its oil and gas (O&G) sector with the award of 16 onshore and 20 offshore blocks in the space of 12 months in 2013-2014
Even though the country is emerging from decades of ethnic conflict, authoritarian rule and economic isolation it is, and will remain for some time, a high-risk country with poor governance. An understanding of the potential impacts of the sector is necessary to improve the outcomes for Myanmar and its people.
Responsible business conduct in the Oil & Gas sector in Myanmar therefore requires enhanced due diligence to determine what impacts business activities may have on society, including on human rights. This must include robust approaches to managing those impacts. The Oil & Gas SWIA is intended to be a resource for these efforts.
The recommendations in the SWIA are directed towards government, businesses (and investors in those business), civil society and development partners for Myanmar, and are intended to support wider multistakeholder collaboration..."
Source/publisher:
The Myanmar Centre for Responsible Business
Date of publication:
2014-09-04
Date of entry/update:
2014-10-02
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Oil and gas
Language:
English
Format :
pdf
Size:
5.73 MB
more
Description:
"Burma will become increasingly dependent on imported crude oil and refined fuels over the next ten years because of a lack of planning and investment, an industry report has forecast.
A rise in crude oil imports is highly likely in spite of an expected upsurge in onshore and offshore exploration in coming years, while underinvestment in refining capacity will necessitate more imports of petrol and diesel, said Business Monitor International (BMI) in a study of Burma?s energy resources. BMI is an international business risks analysis company based in London..."
William Boot
Source/publisher:
"The Irrawaddy"
Date of publication:
2014-07-17
Date of entry/update:
2014-07-18
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Oil and gas
Language:
English
Local URL:
more
Description:
Summary:
"In October 2013 and March 2014, Myanmar awarded 36 major oil and gas blocks to 47 international
and local companies. Global Witness has contacted each of these winning companies to ask simply: who
owns and controls you? Getting full answers to this question is crucial to putting an end to the corruption
which has kept Myanmar?s people in poverty for so long. Secret company structures enable powerful
individuals to hide their identities and there are countless examples globally of corrupt officials awarding
major deals to companies which they later turn out to own. Putting company ownership details into the
public domain provides a crucial safeguard against corruption.
Of the 47 companies contacted, only 13 provided responses to Global Witness? ownership questions.1
Two private companies have set a positive precedent by revealing full details of the individuals who own
and control them. Overall, however, these results reveal a high level of corporate secrecy which must be
tackled if Myanmar?s oil and gas riches are to benefit its people..."
Source/publisher:
Global Witness
Date of publication:
2014-05-31
Date of entry/update:
2014-07-07
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Oil and gas
Language:
English, Burmese (မြန်မာဘာသာ)
Format :
pdf pdf
Size:
634.64 KB 302.42 KB
more
Source/publisher:
Myanmar Centre for Responsible Business (MCRB)
Date of publication:
2014-02-28
Date of entry/update:
2014-05-25
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Oil and gas
Language:
English
Local URL:
more
Description:
Overview and links to pdf versions of individual reports.....
"MCRB will carry out a series of SWIAs to help inform government policy, advance responsible business practice and build civil society capacity to strengthen accountability.
MCRB held consultations in Yangon, 24-26 March 2014, on the findings and assessments from field work across Myanmar, forming part of the forthcoming Sector-Wide Impact Assessment (SWIA) on Myanmar?s Oil & Gas sector.
Three sessions were convened:
Business (English language) on 24 March 2014
Local civil society (Myanmar language) on 25 March 2014
The international NGO, Embassies and donor community (English language) on 26 March 2014..."
Source/publisher:
Myanmar Centre for Responsible Business (MCRB)
Date of publication:
2014-04-16
Date of entry/update:
2014-05-25
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Oil and gas
Language:
English
Local URL:
more
Description:
Myanmar has delayed an oil and gas exploration tender to meet the transparency standards of the Western energy majors lining up, many for the first time, to invest in the rapidly reforming nation, a senior energy ministry official said.
Source/publisher:
Reuters via Arakan Oil Watch
Date of publication:
2012-09-05
Date of entry/update:
2012-09-13
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Oil and gas, Oil and gas - general
Language:
English
Local URL:
more
Description:
"Burma is rich in natural resources. Exports of natural gas
alone amount to approximately US$2.5 billion in annual
revenues, and these are expected to increase by 60% as
three additional production blocks come on line as early as
next year. Yet despite this enormous wealth, Burma is one
of the poorest countries in the world.
A lack of transparency around revenues from the sale of oil,
gas and other natural resources, a lack of an accountable
system to manage revenues, and a lack of equitable benefit
sharing of resource revenues are perpetuating a resource
curse in Burma.
It is a country crippled by corruption, censured for major
human rights violations, and continuing to suffer from a
decades-old civil war between the ruling government
and ethnic peoples. The country?s major businesses are
controlled by military companies and cronies. Projects
which extract and export natural resources have directly
led to human rights abuses such as forced labor, land
confiscation, rape and displacement, as well as severe
environmental degradation. The revenues from these
projects have in turn helped prop up authoritarian rule and
enrich top military generals.
There is therefore an urgent need for Burma to manage
oil and gas revenues with a greater transparency and
accountability as well as to reform its military-dominated
economy to ensure that the benefits of the country?s
resources are shared more equitably among its people and
for the country?s sustainable development.
in the oil and gas sector"
Source/publisher:
Arakan Oil Watch
Date of publication:
2012-03-22
Date of entry/update:
2012-03-23
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Oil and gas
Language:
English
Format :
pdf
Size:
738.78 KB
Local URL:
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Description:
นักลงทุนเริ่มหลั่งไหลเข้าไปในพม่า ซึ่งยังขาดความโปร่งใสและการตรวจสอบได้เกี่ยวกับรายได้ ซึ่งจะยิ่งส่งผลให้เกิดมรดก
บาปด้านทรัพยากรมากขึน้ ของประเทศนี ้กลุ่มเคลื่อนไหวเตือนในวันนี ้
จากข้อมูลในรายงานของกลุ่ม Arakan Oil Watch รายได้จากก๊าซธรรมชาติหลายพันล้านเหรียญไม่ได้รับการบันทึกข้อมูล
อย่างเหมาะสมและไม่ได้เข้ากระเป๋าของรัฐ แต่กลับถูกโยกไปเข้ากระเป๋าของนายทหารที่ทุจริต ส่งผลให้พม่ายังคงเป็น
ประเทศที่มีดัชนีชีวั้ดด้านสังคมเลวร้ายสุดในโลก และเต็มไปด้วยความขัดแย้งเนื่องจากทรัพยากรธรรมชาติ
Source/publisher:
Arakan Oil Watch
Date of publication:
2012-03-22
Date of entry/update:
2012-03-23
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Oil and gas
Language:
Thai
Format :
pdf
Size:
73.78 KB
Local URL:
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Description:
မြန်မာနိုင်ငံထဲသို့ စီးပွားရေးရင်းနှီးမြှုပ်နှံသူများ အလုံးအရင်းနှင့်စတင်ဝင်ရောက် လာကြသော်လည်း
တိုင်းပြည်တွင်းတွင် ဘဏ္ဍာငွေဆိုင်ရာ ပွင့်လင်းမြင်သာမှုနှင့်တာဝန်ခံမှု ဆိတ်သုန်းကင်းမဲ့နေခြင်းက
တိုင်းပြည်၏ သဘာဝသယံဇာတကျိန်စာအား ပို၍ပင်ဆိုးရွားသွားစေသည်ဟု ရခိုင့်ရေနံစောင့်ကြည့်ရေး
အဖွဲ့မှ ယနေ့ သတိပေးပြောကြားလိုက်သည်။
သဘာဝဓါတ်ငွေ့တင်ပို့ရောင်းချရာမှရရှိသော ဘဏ္ဍာဝင်ငွေ ဒေါ်လာဘီလီယံပေါင်းများစွာကို ပြည့်သူ့
ငွေစာရင်းများထဲတွင် ထည့်သွင်းခြင်းမရှိဘဲ အကျင့်ပျက်ခြစားနေသော စစ်ခေါင်းဆောင်များကသာ မတရား
အလွှဲသုံးစားပြုလုပ်နေကြသောကြောင့် မြန်မာနိုင်ငံသည် ကမ္ဘာပေါ်မှာ အဆုးိ ရွားဆုံး လူမှုဖွံ့ဖြိုးတိုးတက်မှု
ညွှန်းကိန်းများနှင့်တိုင်းပြည်တစ်ခုဖြစ်နေပြီး၊ သဘာဝသယံဇာတဆိုင်ရာ ပဋိပက္ခများနှင့်ပြဿနာများကို
လည်း ရင်ဆိုင်နေရသည်ဟု အဆိုပါအဖွဲ့က ပြောကြားသည်။
Source/publisher:
Arakan Oil Watch
Date of publication:
2012-03-22
Date of entry/update:
2012-03-23
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Oil and gas
Language:
Burmese (မြန်မာဘာသာ)
Format :
pdf
Size:
60.2 KB
Local URL:
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Description:
随着投资者开始涌入缅甸，收益透明度及问责机制的缺失正加剧该国的资源诅
咒，一个监察团体在今天发出警告。
由阿拉干石油观察发布的一份报告显示，数十亿美元的天然气销售收入没有记
录进缅甸的国家账户，而被腐败的军事统治者窃取，留给缅甸的只是一些世界最糟
糕的社会指标，并使其卷入自然资源的冲突中。
Source/publisher:
Arakan Oil Watch
Date of publication:
2012-03-22
Date of entry/update:
2012-03-23
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Oil and gas
Language:
Chinese
Format :
pdf
Size:
66.49 KB
Local URL:
more
Description:
Executive Summary: "Burma is rich in natural resources, particularly natural gas and oil. Yet instead of using these resources for the country?s development through industry and job growth, military leaders have been exporting them for over a decade. This has generated huge revenue flows, but a lack of transparency and mismanagement of these revenues has left Burma with some of the worse development indicators in the world, creating a resource curse. Sales revenues of natural gas exports alone amounted to US$ 2.5 billion in 2010-11. It is estimated that this amount will increase by over 60% to US$ 4.1 billion starting from 2013 as three additional production blocks come on line. Further revenues will be generated from over 40 additional oil and gas blocks that are currently under exploration. Despite this enormous wealth, Burma remains extremely poor and its people live with chronic energy shortages. It is a country crippled by corruption, with its major businesses controlled by military companies and cronies. Burma is censured for major human rights violations, and continues to suffer from a decades-old civil war between the ruling government and ethnic peoples. Due to Burma?s lack of protection laws, projects which extract and export natural resources have directly led to human rights abuses such as forced labor, land confiscation, rape and displacement, as well as severe environmental degradation. The projects also fuel armed conflict as government and ethnic troops clash in order to access and control project areas. The revenues from resource extraction projects have in turn helped prop up authoritarian rule and enrich top military generals. The report analyzes the previous Than Shwe regime and new military-dominated government?s lack of transparency around oil and gas revenues, lack of an accountable system to manage revenue, corruption, and a lack of equitable benefit sharing of resource revenues. Although a new ?civilian? government is now in place, under Burma?s new constitution, the military remains firmly outside the law and beyond civilian control. The role of military companies in Burma?s economy and in accessing and managing Burma?s massive oil and gas revenues remain unknown and unregulated. The government does not disclose how much it receives in gas revenues, or how those revenues are managed or spent. Foreign oil companies engaging in Burma?s oil and gas sector also refuse to publish how much and how they pay the military regime. There is therefore an urgent need for Burma to manage oil and gas revenues with greater transparency and accountability as well as to reform its military-dominated economy to ensure that the benefits of the country?s resources are shared more equitably among its people and for the country?s sustainable development. If Burma prioritizes the protection of peoples and the environment in extraction projects and manages the revenues from the sale of its resources transparently, the country?s non-renewable resources can be used sustainably for the benefit of current and future generations, decreasing the pace and need to extract resources from additional areas. Mechanisms and systems for public disclosure of money flows, independent revenue management and auditing, civil society input, and equal benefit sharing currently exist in international standards of revenue transparency and are put into practice in oil and gas producing countries around the world. This report provides key lessons from these countries that Burma can draw on to improve the management of its oil and gas revenues and work toward ending its resource curse."
Source/publisher:
Arakan Oil Watch
Date of publication:
2012-03-22
Date of entry/update:
2012-03-23
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Oil and gas
Language:
Burmese
Format :
pdf
Size:
2.77 MB
Local URL:
more
Description:
Executive
Summary:
"Burma is rich in natural resources, particularly natural gas and oil.
Yet instead of using these resources for the country?s development
through industry and job growth, military leaders have been exporting
them for over a decade. This has generated huge revenue flows, but
a lack of transparency and mismanagement of these revenues has left
Burma with some of the worse development indicators in the world,
creating a resource curse.
Sales revenues of natural gas exports alone amounted to US$ 2.5 billion
in 2010-11. It is estimated that this amount will increase by over 60%
to US$ 4.1 billion starting from 2013 as three additional production
blocks come on line. Further revenues will be generated from over 40
additional oil and gas blocks that are currently under exploration.
Despite this enormous wealth, Burma remains extremely poor and its
people live with chronic energy shortages. It is a country crippled by
corruption, with its major businesses controlled by military companies
and cronies. Burma is censured for major human rights violations, and
continues to suffer from a decades-old civil war between the ruling
government and ethnic peoples. Due to Burma?s lack of protection
laws, projects which extract and export natural resources have directly
led to human rights abuses such as forced labor, land confiscation,
rape and displacement, as well as severe environmental degradation.
The projects also fuel armed conflict as government and ethnic troops
clash in order to access and control project areas. The revenues from
resource extraction projects have in turn helped prop up authoritarian
rule and enrich top military generals.
The report analyzes the previous Than Shwe regime and new
military-dominated government?s lack of transparency around oil
and gas revenues, lack of an accountable system to manage revenue,
corruption, and a lack of equitable benefit sharing of resource
revenues. Although a new ?civilian? government is now in place, under
Burma?s new constitution, the military remains firmly outside the law
and beyond civilian control. The role of military companies in Burma?s
economy and in accessing and managing Burma?s massive oil and gas
revenues remain unknown and unregulated. The government does not
disclose how much it receives in gas revenues, or how those revenues
are managed or spent. Foreign oil companies engaging in Burma?s oil
and gas sector also refuse to publish how much and how they pay the
military regime.
There is therefore an urgent need for Burma to manage oil and gas
revenues with greater transparency and accountability as well as to
reform its military-dominated economy to ensure that the benefits of
the country?s resources are shared more equitably among its people
and for the country?s sustainable development. If Burma prioritizes the
protection of peoples and the environment in extraction projects and
manages the revenues from the sale of its resources transparently, the
country?s non-renewable resources can be used sustainably for the
benefit of current and future generations, decreasing the pace and
need to extract resources from additional areas.
Mechanisms and systems for public disclosure of money flows,
independent revenue management and auditing, civil society input,
and equal benefit sharing currently exist in international standards of
revenue transparency and are put into practice in oil and gas producing
countries around the world. This report provides key lessons from
these countries that Burma can draw on to improve the management
of its oil and gas revenues and work toward ending its resource curse."
Source/publisher:
Arakan Oil Watch
Date of publication:
2012-03-22
Date of entry/update:
2012-03-23
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Oil and gas
Language:
English
Format :
pdf
Size:
1.01 MB
Local URL:
more
Description:
As investors start flooding in to Burma, a lack of revenue transparency and accountability
is set to exacerbate the country?s resource curse, warns a watchdog group today.
According to a report by the Arakan Oil Watch, billions of dollars in revenues from the
sale of natural gas have gone unrecorded in Burma?s public accounts and been siphoned
off by corrupt military rulers, leaving Burma with some of the worst social indicators in
the world and embroiled in conflicts over natural resources.
Source/publisher:
Arakan Oil Watch
Date of publication:
2012-03-22
Date of entry/update:
2012-03-23
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Oil and gas
Language:
English
Format :
pdf
Size:
11.55 KB
Local URL:
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Description:
This report by Green November 32 in 1993 was the first ever NGO perspective report written on the Yadana gas pipeline and on the border dams as they were first discussed by Thai and Burmese governments around that time. It was actually one of the first detailed reports on any of the post 1988 environmental issues by any Burmese- or border- based organisation, and is of particular interest in the light of the current opposition to the Irrawaddy dam projects...
"Officials of the Thai government and the SLORC military regime have for some years now been planning a series of huge energy joint ventures to be undertaken in some of the most fought over territory in Burma. The energy projects, if they are endorsed by the Thai Government - and implemented with the participation of Japanese and Western corporations - will have extremely serious, possibly even terminal repercussions for the Burmese pro-democracy movement which is based in these same areas of the Burma -Thai border. Indeed, this seems to be what a number of the proponents of the development projects intend to achieve, particularly the generals in Rangoon. The SLORC, as well as politicians, military men and businessmen in Thailand and abroad would garner great benefit from the destruction of the Burmese opposition groups along the border, and the opening of the way to even more unrestrained natural resource exploitation than is currently taking place.
There are ten planned energy development joint ventures, comprising two offshore natural gasfield developments and eight hydro-electric dams. These are: •The Martaban Gasfield developments led by Total CFP of France •The Yetagun Gasfield exploratory program led by Texaco of the US •The Upper Salween Dam, •The Lower Salween Dam •The Nam Kok Project •The Nam Moei 3 Project •The Nam Moei 2 Project •The Klong Kra Project •The Nam Moei 1 Project, and •The Nam Mae Sai Project...
The energy projects will lead to environmental and social havoc on a scale comparable to the largest development projects in the world. Indeed, the Upper Salween Dam will be among the largest in the world. Altogether the projects will directly result in the flooding and deforesting of thousands of square kilometers of the forests bordering Burma and Thailand. The projects will displace many thousands of indigenous peoples, some of them already refugees from the forty-five years of bloody civil war in Burma. Many have already been affected by military operations of the SLORC and Thai armies, operations which can easily be seen in the context of clearing the way for the development of the 820-1,000 kilometre gas pipeline or the construction of the eight dams...
The energy projects will put billions of dollars into the control of an ultra-nationalist military regime that is one of the world?s worst human rights violators and that is rapidly building up a large and extraordinarily aggressive army which poses a significant threat to the stability of the region. The massive input of funds from the Western and Japanese multinational oil and energy development companies, combined with the cheap sale and presents of Chinese weaponry, and the profits from the heroin traffic that the SLORC is alleged to control, has funded this huge expansion of the SLORC armed forces...
The energy joint ventures will, if signed, mark the second and higher level of engagement in the much criticised ASEAN policy of "constructive engagement" towards the SLORC regime, which through the activities of the logging, oil and fishing companies have already caused untold damage to Burma?s environment. The multinational corporations, the Keidanrens
and the Thai state oil and electricity institutes PTT and EGAT are therefore amongst the most powerful influences supporting the SLORC in its brutal and undemocratic suppression of the peoples of Burma."
Source/publisher:
Green November 32
Date of publication:
1993-08-31
Date of entry/update:
2011-09-24
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Energy -- general, Oil and gas, Dams and other hydropower projects (global, regional), Dams and other projects on rivers in Burma/Myanmar (countrywide)
Language:
English
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1.3 MB
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"while countries in the neighbouring regions - particularly India and Thailand, but also Australia and Japan - may have important roles to play, China wields far more leverage. For those who wish to influence Burma in a positive direction, it is therefore essential to consider ways that change could be stimulated with the active participation of China, whether through sanctions, constructive engagement and/or any form of dialogue."
The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Nautilus Institute. Readers should note that Nautilus seeks a diversity of views and opinions on contentious topics in order to identify common ground..."
Ã
shild Kolås & Stein Tønnesson
Source/publisher:
Austral Policy Forum 06-30A 24 August 2006
Date of publication:
2006-08-24
Date of entry/update:
2011-09-09
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Language:
English
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137.15 KB
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"The growing revenues from Burma?s oil and gas resources provide financial support to the Burmese military to the detriment of Burma and her peoples...
AS the Burmese regime increases its isolation of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and the National League for Democracy, the United Nations and Western governments, especially the US and the European Union, remain steadfast in applying diplomatic pressure on the junta.
Burma?s stubborn military leaders can shrug off Western pressure, however, knowing they can rely on support from such friendly and powerful neighbors as China, India and some Southeast Asian countries, most of which have significant trade and investment links with Burma and which are inclined to follow an engagement-oriented policy towards the regime..."
Yeni
Source/publisher:
"The Irrawaddy" Vol. 17, No. 4
Date of publication:
2009-06-30
Date of entry/update:
2009-08-11
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Oil and gas
Language:
English
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"...Laid Waste documents the suffering of villagers along the 180-mile Kanbauk to Myaing
Kalay gas pipeline. Ten years after the pipeline?s initial construction, villagers along its
route continue to see their land seized and income taken as they are conscripted into
work as forced laborers and subject to arbitrary detentions, torture and summary
execution. This report is released at a time when international debate on appropriate
responses to the situation in Burma appears to be renewing. The discussion is healthy
and appreciated. But there should be no question: projects like the Kanbauk to Myaing
Kalay gas pipeline do not benefit the people of our country."
Source/publisher:
Human Rights Foundation of Monland (HURFOM)
Date of publication:
2009-05-01
Date of entry/update:
2009-05-08
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Oil and gas
Language:
English
Format :
pdf pdf
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11.63 MB 3.68 MB
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"In military-ruled Burma, also known as Myanmar, large-scale natural gas
projects have directly and indirectly led to violations of basic human rights
through the complicity of multinational corporate actors. These abuses are
ongoing and there is an unreasonably high risk they will increase as more gas
projects are developed. This paper assesses the past, present, and future human
rights impacts of large-scale natural gas extraction in Burma, and the
implications these impacts have in terms of corporate accountability. The
paper provides background information regarding Burma?s government,
economic policy, and the energy sector and considers past and present human
rights abuses connected to the Yadana natural gas project, developed by a
consortium including Chevron, Total, PTTEP, and MOGE. The authors
argue that the companies are complicit in ongoing human rights abuses in
connection to their investment. The paper then describes the threat of future
human rights abuses in connection to the country?s largest offshore gas
deposits, concluding that there is a high risk that current human rights abuses in the proposed project areas will be exacerbated by the new gas production,
and that there will likely be abuses directly linked to the Shwe pipeline project.
Finally, the authors assess the interests and actors involved in the Southeast
Asia regional energy security dynamic as it relates to Burma?s fast growing
oil and gas sector, human rights, and corporate accountability. They argue
that the energy security strategies of China, Thailand, and India—and by
association, the national oil corporations under those governments—relying
on Burmese resources have paid dangerously inadequate attention to the
protection of human rights."
Matthew F. Smith, Naing Htoo
Source/publisher:
Yale Human Rights and Development Law Journal
Date of publication:
2008-07-22
Date of entry/update:
2008-10-31
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Oil and gas
Language:
English
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pdf
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335.71 KB
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New Delhi?s eagerness to supply Burma with weapons highlights new quid pro quo policies...
"Increased contacts between senior military chiefs o ?n both sides of the Burma-India border, involving Indian weapons sales, are believed by analysts to have two primary objectives: to help flush out Burma-based Indian insurgents and to counter growing Chinese influence in Naypyidaw.
But the sale of arms and related technical equipment is also likely to be linked to New Delhi"Look East" economic policy, including ambitions to buy huge quantities of Burma?s offshore gas in the Bay of Bengal. If the gas bid??against rivals China and Thailand??is successful, it will also involve building a costly pipeline through rebel-infested areas of northwest Burma and northeast India..."
Aung Lwin Oo
Source/publisher:
"The Irrawaddy" Vol. 15, No. 1
Date of publication:
2006-12-31
Date of entry/update:
2008-07-26
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
India-Burma relations, Oil and gas, Arms (Military Expenditure, Arms Transfers, Arms Production Etc)
Language:
English
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Description:
Asian nations are stumbling over each other in a rush to capture the concession rights to huge gas and oil resources controlled by the Burmese junta...
"Despite the efforts of some Western governments to isolate the Burmese regime economically, the stark reality is that more private companies and countries than ever are courting the Burmese generals to obtain a share of the country?s vast oil and gas resources.
International energy companies from nine countries are now competing for exploration or production rights for gas and oil both offshore and o?nshore in Burma. A Thai company recently discovered a huge offshore gas field that may harbor as much as two trillion cubic feet of gas..."
William Boot
Source/publisher:
"The Irrawaddy" Vol. 15, No. 7
Date of publication:
2007-06-30
Date of entry/update:
2008-05-03
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Language:
English
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"The Burmese junta controls huge natural resources but inefficiency and incompetence—and bizarre priorities—keep the rewards from reaching the people
While most Burmese struggle daily with high fuel prices, commodity shortages and a lack of electricity, huge quantities of natural gas lie unexploited under the sea off the west coast of Arakan because of the military regime?s indecision or incompetence.
A Burmese worker checks the level of gasoline being transported in drums for sale to roadside outlets [Photo: Yuzo/The Irrawaddy]
Burma is rich in national energy resources—with gas, oil and hydroelectric power potential—but critics say the military government is too busy planning grandiose projects to make the best use of energy resources for the people?s benefit.
Analysts who closely observe the regime say corruption and oftentimes strange priorities that are only apparent to the tight inner circle that controls the country?s decision-making process also account for the underdevelopment of the country?s money-making resources.
Energy industry analysts say that the recoverable gas reserves that have been independently verified in just two blocks of the offshore Shwe field in the Bay of Bengal could bring in US $2 billion annually for at least the next 25 years..."
William Boot
Source/publisher:
"The Irrawaddy" Vol 15, No. 10
Date of publication:
2007-09-30
Date of entry/update:
2008-04-29
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Oil and gas
Language:
English
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Report to the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs..."India and China are both characterized by a tremendous increase in energy
consumption, of which an increasing share derives from imports. Very rapid
economic growth always makes it difficult to arrive at a sound balance between
demand and supply, and this tends to generate waste, bottlenecks and insecurity.
Although both countries are trying hard to provide appropriate energy, increase their
energy efficiency, and diversify their sources of supply, they are becoming
increasingly dependent on imported oil, and the Persian Gulf is set to remain their
predominant source of oil in the coming decades. Instability in the Middle East thus
poses a serious challenge to the security of China and India, just as it does for Japan,
the US and many European countries. The question of maintaining a stable supply of
fossil fuels poses several security challenges. One is to boost one?s own production,
another to diversify one?s sources of import, and a third to secure the transportation of
oil and gas on vulnerable sea routes; or over land through pipelines that depend on
long-term strategic relationships with the producing countries.
In China and India a heightened awareness of the geopolitical implications of energy
supply and demand has given energy issues an increasing prominence both in their
domestic and foreign policies. However, it is difficult to say if this leads to more
tension in their foreign relations or if instead it pushes them towards increased
international cooperation. Plans are certainly being made for future possible â˜resource
wars?, but emphasis is presently being put on economic competition, and on seeking
to maximise each country?s position on the international energy market. Then again,
such increasing resource competition may contribute to raising the stakes of conflict
in areas where national jurisdiction has not been resolved (East China Sea, South
China Sea), and also in some of the energy exporting countries. Burma is one such
country, in which the energy security dynamics of India and China are played out, and
this is detailed in an appendix to the report.
The report is based on available literature, online energy data, and communication
with Indian and Chinese researchers. We have used country reports and statistics
provided by the International Energy Agency (IEA), statistics, forecasts and analyses
by the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), unpublished academic papers,
books and articles by Indian and Chinese researchers, and reports by several European
and American analysts.
Based on our assessments of the energy security strategies and interests of the major
players in the region, the report outlines three scenarios for the future of international
relations in Asia. The first, called ? is the most positive and also,
in our judgment, the most likely. The second scenario, ?,
presents a possible embargo against China, and is perhaps the least likely, at least in
the near future. The third scenario, ? presents the nightmare
scenario of a full scale ? with global impact and serious consequences
for India and China. The situation in Iraq, and especially the ongoing developments with relation to Iran?s nuclear programme, force us to say that this scenario is not just
a fantasy fiction, but a real possibility, even in the short term.
The final section of the report offers suggestions as to implications of the outlined
scenarios for Norwegian foreign policy formulation. Four areas of cooperation that
would improve energy security in China and India, as well as globally, are identified:
1) support for the promotion of energy efficiency,
2) assistance in the development of clean coal and gas technology for electricity
production,
3) a campaign for engaging the world?s great powers in a major research effort to
develop transportation technologies that do not depend on oil,
4) assistance in the nomination and promotion of Indian and Chinese candidature
for IEA membership..."
Stein Tønnesson, Ã
shild Kolås
Source/publisher:
International Peace Research Institute, Oslo (PRIO)
Date of publication:
2006-03-31
Date of entry/update:
2007-11-29
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Oil and gas, Economy: general, analytical, statistical (various sources), Burma and the Geopolitics of Oil and Gas
Language:
English
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Daewoo?s massive gas strike puts Rakhine region in spotlight -- ?The discovery of gas deposits in the A-1 block was one of factor that attracted international oil companies to this region; in the past gas deposits like this would not have interested oil companies,” said U Chan Mya, general manager of Smart technical services company...Nation set for huge increase in oil and gas investment
?Daewoo and PTTEP both have to build platforms and pipelines to transport the gas from the A-1, A-3 and M-9 blocks. This kind of infrastructure investment will certainly boost FDI for the next two or three years at least,” ...The coloured history of the Burmah Oil Company
»
Asian explorers head for deep water
»
Why do we need oil and natural gas?
»
A study of abundance: major onshore and offshore oil and gas fields in Myanmar
»
Increased gas exports to underpin eco growth
»
Harnessing energy from the clouds
»
Energy sector?s nuclear renaissance?
»
Overview of major oil field service companies
»
Government speeds up CNG filling in Yangon
»
World looks green as local industry battles for life
»
Reality of US$100 oil not far off
»
Fuelling the future with Jatropha Curcas
»
Giving back through socioeconomic programs
»
Energy outlook grim: study
»
Negotiations for sale of Daewoo gas continuing
»
China seeks way around Malacca Dilemma?.
Source/publisher:
"The Myanmar Times"
Date of publication:
2007-07-31
Date of entry/update:
2007-09-08
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Oil and gas, Oil and gas, Energy -- general
Language:
English
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Description:
This edition of the quarterly ASEAN Energy Bulletin features country articles on the status, prospects and future direction of oil and gas supply, processing and refining in the Southeast Asia region. The Myanmar article, written by U Soe Myint, of the Energy Planning Department of the state Energy Ministry, is a useful summary of upstream and downstream aspects of the oil and gas industry in the country. It is accompanied by map showing the location of both onshore and offshore development blocks offered in concession by the Ministry.
Soe Myint
Source/publisher:
ASEAN Energy Bulletin
Date of publication:
2001-12-31
Date of entry/update:
2005-08-24
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Oil and gas
Language:
English
Format :
pdf
Size:
1.49 MB
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