New Delhi – The Daewoo International led consortium on Monday agreed to sell gas from the A-1 and A-3 blocks of its offshore gas production in western Burma to the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC).
A press official of Daewoo told Mizzima on Tuesday that the company signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Monday for the sale of natural gas to CNPC.
Kim, the officer from the Press Department of Daewoo in Rangoon said the agreement will be effective “probably for 25 to 30 years.” And the gas will be sold only to “the company in China from the A1 and A3 blocks.”
The MoU comes in the wake of protracted negotiation between the stake holders - Daewoo International, India’s Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), Gas Authority of India (GAIL), The Korean Gas Corporation (KOGAS), Myanmar Gas and Oil Enterprise (MOGE) and CNPC, the official said.
Daewoo’s press statement said, the company, following this agreement, is expecting a profit of more than $ 10 billion for over 25 years not only through the sale of gas but also from constructing a pipeline and gas transportation business during the period of sale.
The sale of gas will start in 2012, the company said.
Meanwhile, the EarthRights International (ERI) and the Shwe Gas Movement (SGM), campaign groups, have accused the Korean government for failing to investigate the Korean corporation regarding their involvement in human rights abuses connected to the gas project in Burma.
“The Korean government is failing to hold Korean corporations accountable for abuses connected to natural gas development in military-ruled Burma,” a joint statement issued by the ERI and SGM said on Monday.
The groups said despite their complaints about Korean corporations flouting the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, has failed to take any serious action.
According to the groups Korean corporations including Daewoo has violated OECD guidelines. It called on the Korean government to take the initiative in investigating the matter.
The groups, having failed to receive concrete replies or seen action, will urge the ensuing OECD's annual meeting, to be held from June 16 to 17, at its headquarters in Paris, to address the Korean corporation’s investment in the Burmese gas project.
“This is an opportunity for the OECD Investment Committee to build confidence around the OECD guidelines as a viable standard for corporate accountability,” said ERI Burma Project Coordinator Matthew Smith said in the statement.
Rights advocates have documented that there are numerous violation of human rights including forced relocations, forced labour, extra-judicial killings, arbitrary arrests and detention by the Burmese Army along the gas pipeline project causing thousands of villagers to flee into the jungles or to neighbouring countries including Thailand.
“The Korean government conveniently dismissed our complaint and now the OECD must fill the gap," said Wong Aung, Coordinator of the Shwe Gas Movement.
