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Press
Release - Burma Campaign UK
For immediate release 16.9.02 |
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| Campaigners
Celebrate as Premier Oil pulls out of Burma |
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The Burma Campaign UK (BCUK) are celebrating
the end of a decade long campaign to force Premier Oil UK out of Burma.
Premier's two largest shareholders, Petronas and Amerada Hess, will
strip the company of its Burmese and Indonesian assets respectively.
Premier's name has become synonymous with corporate irresponsibility.
In the 1990s the company went into partnership with Burma's military
dictatorship to build a gas pipeline across Burmese territory for
the sale of gas to Thailand. BCUK's campaign highlighted the financial
lifeline the project provided to the junta, the human rights abuses
committed by pipeline security forces, and calls by Burma's pro-democracy
leader Aung San Suu Kyi that the company should pull out. As the campaign
gained momentum the UK government took the unprecedented action of
calling directly for Premier to withdraw from Burma.
It seems however that the major blow was dealt when the Burma Campaign
UK provided US investment funds with information that Amerada Hess
had possibly contravened US sanctions and UK company law through its
investment in Premier. With investors concerned that Amerada had broken
the law, as well as mounting pressure from US Burma activists against
Amerada, the company was left no option but to withdraw from Premier.
The company's withdrawal was a catalyst for Petronas to similarly
leave Premier. Both
companies combined had a 50% holding in Premier.
John Jackson, Director of BCUK says: "The demise and fall of
Premier is a warning to any company thinking about investing in Burma
- it's more trouble than it's worth. And if you won't listen to us,
then give the Directors of Amerada Hess or Premier Oil a call."
He added: "We won't stop here, we've won a battle but not the
war. The pressure needs to be turned up on TotalFinaElf and Unocal,
who are as guilty as Premier of propping up one of the most brutal
regimes in the world."
Notes to Editors:
1. Premier became the first oil company to sign an exploration deal
with Burma's military for the exploration of the Yetagun offshore
gas field in May 1990. Its partners were Petronas of Malaysia, Nippon
of Japan, the Petroleum Authority of Thailand (PTT) and the regime's
Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE). A $650 million capital investment
was required to finance the project and the gas started flowing in
May 2000. It is estimated the field will continue to produce gas for
at least 20 years. UK energy consultants, Wood Mackenzie, have estimated
that Burma's earnings from Premier's Yetagun field will be around
$823 million through to 2025.
2. Yetagun is the second gas field to start extracting gas in Burma
- the Unocal/TotalFinaElf consortium's Yadana field being the first.
3. Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma's pro-democracy leader and Nobel laureate
has said, "Premier Oil is not only supporting this military government
financially, it is also giving it moral support, and it is doing a
great disservice to the cause of democracy. It should be ashamed of
itself".
4. Robin Cook, when Foreign Secretary, said, "I'm going to make
it quite clear, we do not approve of what Premier are doing, they
know that perfectly well, we would much rather they stopped and they
know that perfectly well". Former Foreign Minister, John Battle,
also urged Premier to pull out of Burma saying: "I really expect
Premier to do the decent thing without having to resort to legal pressure".
5. Amerada Hess attempted to invest in Premier despite the 1997 US
Government ban on all new investment in Burma. To do this Amerada
told shareholders:
A. That the capital used to purchase shares in Premier Oil in 1999,
was provided on condition that it would not be invested in Burma.
B. That the two Directors appointed by Amerada to Premier's board
were under strict instructions from Amerada not to participate in
any
discussions relating to Premier's Burma interest.
The Burma Campaign UK sought legal advice on the issue and discovered
that there had been no stipulation that Amerada's capital could not
be used in Burma. BCUK also discovered that the Amerada directors
on Premier's Board would not be fulfilling their fiduciary responsibilities
under UK company law, if they did not discuss Premier's largest project
- the Yetagun field in Burma - at board meetings.
For further information contact:
John Jackson (office) 020 7281 7377 (mobile) 07961 357 391
Mark Farmaner (office) 020 7281 7377 (mobile) 07941 239 640
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