Myanmar’s navy junta earned greater than $800 million from pure fuel exports within the 4 months from April to July, the state-run World New Gentle of Myanmar reported yesterday. The newspaper cited figures from the junta’s Ministry of Commerce claiming that the nation exported 77.89 million kiloliters of pure fuel in the course of the above interval, principally to Thailand and China. This landed the federal government $819 million, which the paper claimed was a rise of $60.7 million on the identical interval final 12 months.
Based on the report, this got here on prime of the $1.72 billion that the Commerce Ministry claims it earned from pure fuel exports within the two quarters from October 2021 to March of this 12 months, bringing its complete to greater than $2.5 billion in lower than a 12 months. Most of this fuel is from the Yadana, Yetagun, Shwe, and Zawtika offshore fuel fields.
The announcement is more likely to immediate a redoubling of activists’ requires sanctions to be imposed on the Myanma Oil and Gasoline Enterprise (MOGE), the state-owned enterprise which funnels oil and fuel revenues to the Myanmar authorities. For the reason that navy coup of February 2021, rights teams have agitated for the imposition of sanctions on MOGE, which a United Nations human rights knowledgeable stated “represents the only largest income” to the Myanmar authorities.
The advocacy group Justice for Myanmar stated yesterday that fuel revenues have been funding the navy’s crimes towards humanity, and referred to as on the U.S. authorities to “step up its motion towards #Myanmar navy & sanction Myanma Oil and Gasoline Enterprise NOW.” In February, the European Union introduced sanctions towards MOGE, claiming that the navy’s management of the agency is “contributing to its capabilities to hold out actions undermining democracy and the rule of legislation in Myanmar/Burma.” The U.S. Congress has additionally really helpful that the Biden administration impose sanctions on MOGE.
The announcement got here on the identical day that the UK introduced a brand new spherical of sanctions on the navy regime, concentrating on various military-linked companies “in an effort to restrict the navy’s entry to arms and income.” The sanctions coincided with the fifth anniversary of the Myanmar navy’s violent expulsions of greater than 700,000 Rohingya from the northern elements of Rakhine State in western Myanmar.
Whether or not or not the timing was a coincidence, the character of the announcement, which was trumpeted on the entrance web page of the World New Gentle for Myanmar, is difficult to not learn as a boastful declare by the junta that regardless of the host of sanctions that Western nations have imposed since final 12 months’s coup, the navy remains to be in a position to maintain itself financially.
To date, lots of the sanctions imposed by the U.Ok., United States, and European Union have had restricted results just because nations nearer at hand, notably China and Thailand, have continued to do enterprise with the navy authorities. Earlier this 12 months, the multinational oil majors Complete and Chevron introduced that they might pull out of the Yadana offshore fuel discipline because of the nation’s deteriorating political and human rights scenario, however this has merely resulted of their stakes being transferred to different international companions within the Yadana mission. (MOGE reportedly noticed its stake rise from 15 % to 21 % after Complete’s withdrawal.)
Earlier this month, Related Press reported that the EU sanctions on MOGE had “led the Financial institution of China to advise operators of the Shwe oil and fuel discipline in northwestern Myanmar that it’s going to not deal with funds in euros to MOGE out of concern they may fall afoul of these restrictions.” It cited two sources as saying that euro funds to MOGE have been being saved in escrow accounts – a report that would appear to contradict the navy junta’s earnings announcement.
However that solely concerned one of many offshore fuel fields, and if there’s any likelihood of definitively chopping off the junta’s pure fuel revenues, the U.S. must impose sanctions on MOGE after which pursue secondary sanctions towards all different international corporations that proceed to do enterprise with it.
This would come with Thailand’s PTT Exploration & Manufacturing (PTTEP), which was reported to have taken over Complete’s stake within the Yadana fuel discipline after its withdrawal this 12 months, and produces and exports massive quantities of pure fuel to western Thailand, from the Yadana, Yetagun, and Zawtika fields. This raises the query: Would the U.S. authorities be prepared to sanction a state-owned Thai firm at a time wherein U.S.-Thai relations are stagnating, and Washington fears the extent of Chinese language inroads in Thailand?
In all probability not, and any try and persuade PTTEP to stop its dealings with the Myanmar regime would require sustained and delicate diplomatic outreach to Bangkok, particularly given the truth that Thai acquiescence is critical for the Western help of Burmese exile teams and civil society organizations based mostly in Thailand.
There may be much more than could be achieved to limit the Myanmar navy’s entry to the weapons that it’s utilizing to consolidate its coup. However because the previous 18 months have proven, the aim of chopping off the junta’s important income supply is extra difficult than it would first seem.
