The big Australian energy supplier Woodside announced Thursday, January 27, its withdrawal from Burma, the latest company to leave the country, nearly a year after the military coup. “Woodside has decided to end its interests in Burma”he said in a statement, after nine years of presence in this country.
The company, headquartered in Perth (Western Australia, west of the country), operates numerous exploration and drilling sites in Burma, where a military junta overthrew the government of Aung San Suu in February 2021. Kyi, ending the democratic transition underway in this Southeast Asian country since 2010.
Woodside is following in the footsteps of French TotalEnergies and American Chevron, which announced last week their withdrawal from Burma, where they were partners in the Yadana gas field.
Pressure on major international groups
Faced with the repression of the protest by the army, which has claimed more than 1,500 civilian victims, according to the latest estimates, and is increasingly taking the form of a civil war, NGOs are maintaining pressure on large groups international organizations, in order to encourage them to review their activities on the spot.
On Wednesday, Washington advised U.S. companies with a presence in the country to remain extremely wary and especially avoid Burmese state-owned companies, citing the risks of them being associated with a military government.
These companies are exposed “at significant reputational risk as well as financial and legal risk”including violating sanctions and money laundering laws, according to a statement from six U.S. departments.