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Published by the Arakan Oil Watch, a core member of the Shwe Gas Movement
Bulletin
TheTheTheTheThe
Volume 3, Issue 11 December 2010
Largest
Investment:
Dawei Project
StartsConstruction
in 2011
Nov 18, 2010 (SGB)
Continue to page 7-
Thailands largest construction
company, Italian-Thai Developmentwill start construction of the Dawei
Development project in Burma in
January next year, according to media
reports.
Construction of an eight-lane highway,
part of the project linking the Dawei
port to central Thailands city
Kanchanaburi is already underway.
Italian-Thai Development won a
contract from the Burmese
government in 2008 to survey and
build a road linking Dawei to
Kanchanaburi.
The second phase of the Dawei
Development project will include the
construction of a seaport, which will
be able to handle up to 25 vessels of
20.000 to 50.000 tonnes at a time.
Other sources say the port will be
capable of handling vessels as large
as 300,000 tonnes. The port will
Burmas pro-democracy leader and Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu
Kyi was released from her house arrest on Nov 13, 2010. Military
controlled elections were held for the first time in two decades on Nov
7th and the fully backed Union Solidarity and Development Party claimed
over 75% seat victory in the elections. NLD boyccoted the elections andwas condemned by the opposition movement and many countries around
the world.
There should be transparency and accountabilityto make sure that, whatever deals there are, that they
are to be to the profit, the benefit of the people,Aung San Suu Kyi stressed after her release
regarding foreign investment in Burma
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The Shwe Gas Bulletin
Page 2
Thailands Dawei Investment Project: Protection of
Human Rights and Environment NeededOn November 2nd Thailand signed a contract worth
US$ 8 billion the with Burmese military regime for the
Dawei Development Project, making history as the
largest investment in Burma, a nation run by a group of
military leaders infamous as state terrorists for killing
and torturing its civilians and activists including monks
who peacefully marched in 2007 for the freedom and
democracy.
Many people in Thailand believe that the project will
benefit both Thailand and Burma. The Dawei Port
Project will start construction in January 2011, which
will help Thailand to avoid the Strait of Malacca-known
for its piracy- for its energy import and will save
shipping time. By shifting Thailands long awaited
environmentally concerned industrial zone to Dawei,
Thailand will benefit from cheap labor cost and will
avoid environmental damages into Thai air and soil from
heavy industries and the proposed chemical complex.
For Burma, the project could provide jobs for thousands
of Burmese but one of the worlds most corrupt military
regimes will be the one who will benefit the most from
this multi billion project. According to the International
Herald Tribune, the project includes a profit-sharingagreement with the Burmese military regime, but detailed
information has not been disclosed.
Revenue flowing to the regime could mean military
power expansion to buy more military weapons and
equipment. Revenue will be used for Burmas military
leader Than Shwes nuclear weapons development
rather than for the development of the country.
Burmas desperate military regime is willing to sacrifice
Burmas clean air and soil just for the hot money and
Thai companies rather harm peoples livelihoods and
the environment in Burma rather than creating jobsbecause of the lacking human rights and environmental
protection laws in Burma.
Due to the opposition from local residents about the
environmental concerns, the expansion of the industrial
complex at Map Ta Phut, Thailands largest
petrochemical facility in the south is no longer possible.
Seventy-six projects on the estate remain closed, after
a court ruling regarding residents complaints about
leukemia and cancer rates in the area.
Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva recently publicly
stressed Some industries are not suitable to be locatedin Thailand. Explaining the project to viewers of his
weekly television address he said: This is why they
decided to set up there, referring to Dawei.
For the development of projects in Thailand, companies
are required to do an environmental impact assessment
and conduct a public hearing. In Burma, however,
human rights abuses and environmental damages are
common in the areas of so called developments projects
as companies implement the projects without conducting
Human Right Impact Assessments (HIA), Environment
Impact Assessments (EIA) and Social Impact Assessments
(SIA).Foreign companies fail to take their responsibility
to practice internationals standards for the protection
of community rights and the environment.
Local people are never consulted or informed regarding
projects by the companies or the Burmese military
regime. Even though one of the largest industrial estates
in Dawei is currently being built, local residents are
not informed nor consulted about the project. Many
people in the project area are still unaware of the risks
of the project to their livelihoods and the environment
from the heavy industry estate that could ruin their lives.
In Burma it is impossible for local people, who are
already living in fear under oppressive military rule, to
complain to either the Government or foreign companies
about relocation or confiscation of land with or withoutcompensation.
As has been learned from past cases in several
development projects in Burma, local authorities have
forced villages to sign a written agreement for the
confiscation of their land or relocation. If a person
complains or refuses to sign the agreement, he or she
will be threatened to be arrested immediately, put in jail
or tortured.
As Thailand is investing in Burmas numerous
development projects such as oil and gas exploration,
gas pipelines and hydropower dams, Thailand mustrealize that it is cooperating with one of the worst human
rights abusers in the world and that Thailand is
complicit in human rights abuses and environmental
damages in Burma.
While investing in Burma, Thai companies should adhere
to international standards or at least home country
standards for the protection of community rights and
the environment. Thailand must also ensure
transparency and accountability for its payments for
gas and other investments to the Burmese military
regime. Due to the lack of protection of human rightsand the environment and transparency and
accountability, Thailands investments in Burma are not
more than sucking its neighbors blood.
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Published by the Arakan Oil Watch, a core member of the Shwe Gas Movement
Volume 3, Issue 11
Page 3
AOW
Daewoo
Construction of China-Burma Oil and Gas Pipeline
Started at Both Sides
Mid 2010 China started the construction of the China-
Burma oil and gas pipeline from both Burmese and
Chinese sides. CNPC, Chinas largest oil firm and
parent company of PetroChina, will build and operate
the pipeline. The construction is due to finish in 2013.
The oil and gas pipelines will start from Arakan states
port city of Kyauk Phyu and it will enter to Chinas
Yunnans border city of Ruili by passing through central
Burma and Shan State.
The 2,380-km long oil pipeline will end in Kunming City,
the capital of Yunnan. It is expected to carry 22 million
tonnes of crude oil per annum to China from the Middle
East and Africa.
The natural gas pipeline will be even longer, running from
Kunming into Guizhou Province and the Guangxi Zhuang
Autonomous Region in south China and will have a total
length of 2,806 km. It is expected to transport 12 billion
cubic meters of Burmas Shwe gas to China every year.
CNPC is also building a 200,000 bpd refinery in the city
of Anning that is designed to process crude oil delivered
via Burma. It will be completed within three years.
China is planning to build an economic zone in the port
city of Kyauk Phyu and a railroad connecting Kyauk
Phyu to Ruili. The project is scheduled to finish in fiveyears. (Oct 2010. SGB )
China has started oil and gas pipeline con-
struction in Centerl Burma since June 3, 2010.
Rights abuses cnoncerned due to the absent of
protection law and military involvement in the
project. (photo eleven media group)
Constructors work at the project as the China-
Myanmar oil and gas pipelines formally started
Chinese section construction in Anning of Southwest
Chinas Yunnan province, on Sept. 10, 2010.
(Xinhua/Chen Haining)
A railroad along with the pipeline and economic zone under plan
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The Shwe Gas Bulletin
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Reuter (Nov 24, 2010)
Aung San Suu Kyi, the Myanmarese pro-democracy
leader who was released from seven years of continuous
house detention on Nov 13, used her first interview with
an Indian media organisation to criticise the worlds
largest democracy for its foreign policy towards the
military junta-ruled nation.
I am saddened with India. I would like to have thought
that India would be standing behind [the pro-democracy
movement]. That it would have followed in the traditionof Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru, Suu Kyi
told the Indian Express on Wednesday.
I do not oppose relations with the Generals but I hope
that the Indian government would talk to us as well. I
would like to see talks begin immediately. I would like to
see close and friendly relations, like those that have not
been seen recently.
India has developed close ties with Myanmar over the
past two decades, largely in reaction to Chinas strong
presence in the country and New Delhis fears that large
Chinese investments in the wider region are part of a
plan to encircle India in a string of pearls.
Suu Kyis comments follow similar remarks from U.S.
President Barack Obama, who chastened India for
shying away from violations of human rights during his
landmark speech to parliament in New Delhi last month.
When peaceful democratic movements are suppressed
as in Burma then the democracies of the world
cannot remain silent, Obama told the assembled
lawmakers.
Having initially supported Nobel Laureate Suu KyisNational League for Democracy, New Delhi shifted its
strategy in the early 1990s to court the military regime.
Since then, it has funded the development of a port on
the countrys northwestern coast, built roads and
railways there, and has supplied arms to Yangon as it
competes with Beijing for Myanmars oil and gas
resources. India, which shares a 1,645-km (1,000-mile)
border with Myanmar, is the countrys fourth largest
trading partner.
India has also refused to heed calls from otherinternational democratic nations to exert pressure on the
military regime. In 2009, India refused to support
International Labour Organisation criticisms of forced
labour in Myanmar, while in 2007, then-Foreign Minister
Pranab Mukherjee appeared to ignore widespread
protests and the tough military crackdown in the country
by repeating word-for-word the same speech on the
need for closer ties he had delivered earlier that year.
Human rights organisations have said India has
mortgaged its voice on political and human rights
issues for economic gain, while this month former
Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor
wrote that from standing up for democracy, India had
graduated to aiding and abetting the military regime.
It is an approach that Suu Kyi, who graduated from
New Delhis Lady Shri Ram College and lived in Indiaprior to her return to Myanmar in 1988, hopes to shift
away from pure economics:
I would like India to remember that the two countries
have been through thick and thin together. We have
fought together against colonialism. It is now time to
maintain steady in that direction and encourage a
valuable friendship, she said.
But with Chinese investment in the country soaring to
over $8 billion this fiscal year and New Delhi anxious of
its rivals expanding influence in the Indian Ocean region,will India risk its ties with the junta in standing up for
democracy?
Suu Kyi Underlines Indias
strategic approach to
Myanmar
Illustration: Ramachandra Babu/Gulf News
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Volume 3, Issue 11
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ABC news (Nov 9, 2010 )
The Greens say Australias sanctions against Burma are
not tough enough and there should be a full trade embargo.
Violence has broken out in Burma, particularly along the
border with Thailand, in the wake of the weekends landmark
elections - the countrys first in 20 years, which many
countries have described as a fraud.
The Greens say there is still about $50 million of trade with
Burma, particularly in oil and gas, and forestry investment
which should be restricted.
Senator Scott Ludlam says Australias sanctions target
Burmas ruling military regime but they are not adequate.
The regime is deliberately trying to muddy the waters now,
that a whole host of senior generals resigned and stood in
their so-called elections, he said.
Its going to become more difficult to determine who is
actually a member of the military clique and who is not.
The most important thing we can do now, particularly with
the upsurge of violence on the border with Thailand, is to
prevent revenues from flowing into that country.
There is about $50 million a year of two-way trade with
Burma, and you cant get into the oil and gas business or
the forestry business in Burma without doing a deal with
the military regime.
I think its completely unacceptable in the light of the
election and the subsequent violence that Australian
investors should still be able to trade with Burma.
We need a full embargo now.
The Australian
Greens Demand
Burma Trade EmbaroBloomberg (October 05, 2010)
By Makiko Kitamura
A Toyota Motor Corp. affiliate has sold its share of a
Myanmar venture, majority-owned by Suzuki Motor
Corp., that made Toyota a target of criticism for its ties to
the countrys military junta.
Toyota Tsusho Corp. sold its stake in June in the venture,
which builds cars and motorcycles with Myanmars
government, because of the countrys poor human-rights
record, Reuters reported earlier today. The Nagoya,
Japan-based trading company is about 22 percent owned
by Toyota Motor, the worlds biggest carmaker.
Katsutoshi Yokoi, a Toyota Tsusho spokesman in Tokyo,
confirmed the stake sale, declining to specify the timing,
reason, or stake size, citing an agreement with parties
involved.
The venture, known as Myanmar Suzuki Motor, produced12,000 vehicles in 2006, the report said, citing a researcher
at investment fund Domini Social Investments LLC. Toyota
Motors ties to the venture drew criticism from human-
rights groups including London-based Burma Campaign
UK, which included the carmaker and Suzuki in its dirty
list of companies that do business with Myanmars regime.
Toyota Motor halted exports to Iran in June after the U.S.
and the United Nations imposed sanctions in response to
the Middle Eastern countrys nuclear program.
Suzuki raised its stake in the Myanmar venture to 70
percent from 60 percent as early as this June, said Ei
Mochizuki, a spokesman at the Hamamatsu, Japan-based
carmaker. Suzuki has no plan to exit the venture, which
began production in 1999, Mochizuki said.
Toyota Affiliate Exits
Suzuki Venture in
Myanmar
RESOURCES FOR THE PEOPLE
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AFP
ILO targets Myanmars military
over forced labour
GENEVA: International labour
experts warned on Sunday that Myanmars military is still
resorting to forced labour despite signs of progress withcivilian local authorities.
An International Labour Organisation (ILO) committee
backed calls for the release of six people who have been
imprisoned for up to 18 months after they sought the help
of the agencys office in the country, and renewed criticism
of Myanmars military, ILO officials said.
There is an indication that the use of forced labour
systematically by civilian authorities in some areas is
reducing, Steve Marshall, liaison officer for the UN labouragency in Myanmar, told AFP.
The other side is there is no evidence of any change in
attitude to the use of forced labour by the military, he
added.
The 183-nation ILOs committee on standards has
assessed Myanmars record with forced labour annually
since an inquiry concluded that the practice was widespread
and systematic there.
It met on Saturday but its conclusions were only due to be
published today (Monday).
In 2007, Myanmars military junta bowed to pressure from
the UN labour agency and allowed an official based in the
capital, Yangon, to deal with complaints from victims.
Marshall, who took part in the meeting in Geneva, indicated
that the committee upheld his assessments and reiterated
calls for changes to parts of Myanmars constitution and
laws that could condone forced labour.
It also noted that official efforts in the country to raise
awareness to help prevent the practice were gaining pace.
ILO Targets Burmas
Military over Forced
Labour
AFP (Nov 23, 2010)
November 18th, 2010 | Xinhua
Foreign companies are working in 42 gas exploration
blocks in Myanmars oil and gas fields under respective
contracts, the Biweekly Eleven News reported Thursday.
The 42 blocks include 12 in the inland and 30 in the offshore
areas. The 30 offshore blocks further include 10 deep-
sea blocks.
There are 31 inland and 5 offshore oil and gas fields inMyanmar.
Starting 1998, Myanmar has been able to export gas to
Thailand and in the next few years, the export will be
expanded to China, the biweekly said.
Oil and gas stands the sector with most foreign investment.
In 2009-10, Myanmar produced nearly 7 million barrels
of crude oil and 400 billion cubic-feet (11.32 billion cubic-
meters) of gas, according to official statistics.Meanwhile, to boost oil and gas output from the inland
blocks, Myanmar imported four huge seep-soil drilling
machines from China for use in newly-explored
Thagyitaung, Kyaukhwet, Maubin and Pyay oil and gas
fields, the report added.
According to the geological condition, Myanmar has 14
geological valleys in the onshore regions, among which the
state- run Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise has conducted
surveys in the central region, Pay and Delta regions.
It was reported that there remains many more promising
regions for exploitation of oil and gas in the country.
In the latest development, oil and natural gas are also being
exploited at new blocks such as MD-4 in the west of Dawei,
Tanintharyi division, MD-5 in the west of Palaw and MD-
6 on the west of Myeik which were found in Mottama
offshore deep sea region.
Although annual foreign investment in the oil and gas sector
stood only 278.6 million U.S. dollars in 2009-10, it was
raised sharply to 9.81 billion dollars merely in the first five
months (April-August) of 2010-11, a latest statistics show.
Foreign Companies
work in dozens of gas
blocks in Myanmar
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Volume 3, Issue 11
Page 7
provide a shortcut avoiding
the Strait of Malacca forcargo between Europe and
the Middle East and Asia.
According to the contract
signed on November 2
between the Burmese
military regime and Italian-
Thai Development, the
Dawei Development
Project consists of three
phases: the construction ofa transportation corridor to
Thailand as well as roads
linking the public utilities and
facilities in the industrial
zone; the port; and the
industrial estate. The first
stage is expected to take
five years and the final two
stages are expected to take
another five years with total
project completion
expected in 2020.
Italian-Thai Development
has said that the first phase
of the project will cost $8 billion with financing already
secured from an unnamed private bank. The Thai
government is also contributing $60 million towards the
construction of the highway. The highway from the port
will lead 130 kilometers to the Thai border and then on to
Kanchanaburi. A rail line will be built parallel to the new
road, according to Asia Times online report.The report said the third phase of the project is the
construction of a 40,500-hectare industrial estate. The
original plan for the location of the industrial estate was in
Map Ta Phut in Southern Thailand. However, the project
plan did not reach agreement with the Southern residents
who opposed to the project for its negative social en
environmental impact.
Some industries are not suitable to be located in Thailand,
said Abhisit Vejjajiva, the Thai prime minister in his weekly
television address explaining the project to its viewers. Thisis why they decided to set up there, he said, referring to
Dawei.
Once completed, the estate will have seven zones: port
and heavy industry complex, petroleum and chemical
complex, an upstream and downstream petrochemical
complex, medium industry, light industry, and a town with
homes, public facilities and a commercial complex.
Several Thai companies are involved as sub-contractors
or have expressed interest in becoming involved in theproject. Amata Corporation has been named as the
developer of the industrial estate for which, together with
Italian-Thai Development, the company has carried out a
two-year feasibility study. A subsidiary of state-owned PTT
Chemical, Thai Tank Terminal, has also expressed interested
in operating a storage terminal near the port. Siam Cement
Group, Thailands third-largest company by market value,
is also interested in setting up a cement plant at the port.
Bangkok Bank is reportedly interested in offering loans
for the project.the entire project could be worth more than US$58 billion,
making it Burmas largest investment project ever.
The project envisions that the new trans-border corridors will
promote regional integration. Through the port and transport links,
an average of 10 days will be cut from the journey of goods bound
for Thailand, China, Vietnam and Laos as cargo will no longer be
need to pass through the Strait of Malacca. Photo: Dawei
Development Project handout
Continued from page 1 -
Largest Investment: Dawei Project Starts Construction in 2011
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The Shwe Gas Bulletin
Russia Joins Sanction Hit Tay Zas Htoo
Group to Explore oil and gas in BurmaNov 9, 2010 (SGB)
Burmas Htoo Group of Companies and Russias NobleOil will jointly explore oil and gas in Shwe U-ru block (B-
2) in Homeli Townhsip in Sagaing region, according to
Rangoon based Weekly Eleven News.
Tay Za, a close associate of Burmas
dictator Than Shwe is Chief executive
officer and managing director of Htoo
Group of Companies (HGC). Tay Za
consolidated his relationship with the
junta by creating Myanmar Avia Export,
Burmas sole representative of Russias
Export Military Industrial Group,
(MAPO), and of the Russian helicopter
company Rostvertol. Tay Za was
instrumental in the juntas purchase of
ten MiG-29 fighter aircraft for US$130
million.
HGC is the parent company of Air Bagan, a privately held
Burmese airline company. The company has several
subsidiaries. Htoo Wood Products Company Ltd. is
engaged in logging and export of timber (especially teak).
Htoo Trading Company, is engaged in construction,
property development, agriculture, transportation, shipping,
mining, hotels and tourism operations. Htoo Trading
Company and Asia World Company were the first two
construction companies granted contracts to build the new
national capital in Naypyidaw. Htoo Trading Company is
Burmas top private exporter and fifth largest overall, withgross revenues of $65.1 million. High ranking military
generals and family members holds shares in the HGC and
its subsidiaries.
Since 2006, other three Russian oil
companies have been engaged in oil and
gas exploration in Burma under
respective contracts. The first Russian
company, which is JSC Zarubezhneft
Iteraaws along with the Sun Group ofIndia, has been exploring oil and gas at
block M-8 lying in the Mottama offshore
area under a production sharing contract
with the Myanmar Oil and Gas
Enterprise (MOGE) signed in
September 2006.
The latter two Russian companies Silver Wave Sputnik
Petroleum Pte Ltd and the Silver Wave Energy Pte Ltd of
Kalmykia have been drilling Zeebyutaung test well-1 at
the inland block B-2 in Pinlebu township of northwestern
Sagaing region under another similar contract reached in
March 2007.
Seven foreign companies are operating onshore, including
Essar Oil Ltd, Focus Energy Ltd, MPRL Exploration and
Production Private Ltd, Goldpetrol, CNOOC, Sinopec
Oil Company and Chinerry Assests, according to statistics.
Oil drilling in central Burma
Arakan Oil Watch (AOW), founded in 2006, is an independent
non-governmental organization that struggle for the protection
of human rights and the environment and equity and justice for
the communities from extractive industries in Arakan and Burma.
AOW educates affected communities on these issues, develops and
promotes oil and gas revenue transparency standards, and conducts
international advocacy. AOW is an active core member of the Shwe
Gas Movement and Oilwatch SouthEast Asia. Each month AOW
publishes The Shwe Gas Bulletin in English and Burmese
languages, a newsletter covering the latest developments in
Burmas oil and natural gas industry.
Shwe Gas Bulletin Team
Jockai (Editor)
Tulika
A.K.Soe
R.N.Soe
Than Naing
Layout & Designed by
Herman
Arakan Oil Watch
Contact:[email protected]
+66 (0) 53329366 w w w . a r a k a n o i l w a t c h . o r g