TotalEnergies to Pull Out of Myanmar

French oil and gas major TotalEnergies SE will pull out of Myanmar to protest against the junta’s continued violence against civilians since last year’s military coup. 

“The situation, in terms of human rights and more generally the rule of law, which have kept worsening in Myanmar since the coup of February 2021, has led us to reassess the situation and no longer allows TotalEnergies to make a sufficiently positive contribution in the country,” the company based near Paris said in a statement Friday.

Amid growing pressure from shareholders and non-governmental groups, the French firm is among the companies leaving Myanmar, which has plunged into a turmoil after the coup led by army chief Min Aung Hlaing.

TotalEnergies has decided to initiate the contractual process of withdrawing from the Yadana field and from MGTC in Myanmar, both as operator and as shareholder, without any financial compensation for TotalEnergies, it said Friday.

Last year, TotalEnergies and Chevron Corp. suspended cash distribution by a joint venture that counts a Myanmar state-owned company as a shareholder.