French energy giant withdraws from Myanmar

This file photo taken on May 28, 2021, shows the new TotalEnergies logo during its unveiling ceremony, at a charging station in La Defense on the outskirts of Paris. The French energy giant announced on January 21, 2022, that it was pulling out of Myanmar, where it was a partner and operator of the Yadana gas field, a long-standing demand of human rights NGOs after a military coup last year. (Photo by AFP)

PARIS: French energy group TotalEnergies has decided to withdraw from Myanmar because of the civil unrest there, it said on Friday, becoming the latest western company to pull out of the country since last year's coup.

"While our company considers that its presence in a country allows it to promote its values, including outside its direct sphere of operations, the situation, in terms of human rights and more generally the rule of law, which have kept worsening in Myanmar since the coup of February 2021, has led us to reassess the situation and no longer allows TotalEnergies to make a sufficiently positive contribution in the country," it said.

"As a result, 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."