Human rights and environmental activists have criticized Australian owned Twinza Oil’s decision to invest US $30 million to conduct exploratory tests in Burma’s offshore Yetagun East Block in the Gulf of Martaban.
Twinza Oil is the parent company of Danford Equities Corporation, which will conduct the tests in the Yetagun East Block, located in shallow waters in the far south of the Gulf of Martaban adjacent to the towns of Dawei and Myeik.
John Kaye, the president of the Australia Coalition for Democracy in Burma, said Twinza’s involvement with Burma will help prop up a government that practices brutality, rape, torture and murder.
“That investment money, the services that Twinza is giving to the oilfields, should not go ahead until democracy has been restored in Burma,“he said.”When Twinza invests that money it will entrench the system of the dictatorship. And there’s only misery ahead.”
“In any investment in Burma none of the benefits will go to the Burmese people,“he said.”The Burmese military capture all the benefits.”
According to Dow Jones, an American publishing and financial information firm, the Twinza Oil Ltd country manager for Myanmar [Burma], Christopher Drew, said the company will conduct seismic studies and drill in the shallow-water block, which has estimated crude oil reserve of about 100 million barrels.
“If things go well, we’ll be able to start production in 2010, which would require an investment of several hundred million dollars,” Drew said.
In November 2006, Bill Clough, CEO of Twinza Oil, signed a joint venture contract for offshore oil and gas exploration and production with Burma’s energy minister Brigadier-General Lun Thi. The deal covered the 21,000-square-kilometre Yetagun East Block.
“Along with the necessary investment, we are looking forward to bringing in new, advanced technology, creating job opportunities for Myanmar [Burmese] people and contributing to the thorough assessment of the national resource base,” Clough was quoted as saying in The Myanmar Times’ November 20-26, 2006, edition.
CEO Clough has a longstanding investment in The Myanmar Times, which is run by Australian journalist Ross Dunkley.
“We have developed a close relationship with the ministry over time and an in-depth understanding of the specific challenges of operating in Myanmar [Burma],” he said.
The Burma Campaign UK has placed Danford Equities Corporation, the subsidiary of Twinza Oil, on its ‘Dirty List,’ which seeks to pressure companies from doing business in Burma.
John Kaye of the Australian democracy coalition said, “Australians are feeding the military government that has dominated Burma for far too long. The Australian government needs to come down hard on its donors and tell them it’s not on. If they want to deal with the Burmese military and enrich the military then they need to get out of Australia.
“Australia has an obligation to the people of Burma to ensure that Australian companies are not profiteering from the misery of the Burmese people. Those resources belong to the Burmese people, and it’s only under a democracy that they will enjoy the benefits.”
Burma has abundant natural resources in the Yadana, Yetagun and Shwe fields.
Petronas Carigali of Malaysia is also carrying out explorations near the Yetagun gas field.
Naing Htoo, the coordinator of EarthRights International (Burma) project, said Burmese people who live along gas pipelines built by foreign companies have lost property and failed to benefit from the economic activity.
“As the foreign companies have a close connection with the military regime, we want them to use their influence to push the military government to end its human rights violation on civilians,” he said