"Energy giant, Total was forced to justify its response to the Myanmar coup to shareholders yesterday amid growing pressure from international campaigners to halt payments to the military regime. Speaking at the company’s annual general meeting, Total’s chairman and chief executive Patrick Pouyanné said the company “condemned violence and the human rights violations that have taken place in Burma”. Pouyanné said he was outraged by the coup. He argued the “only way to stop the flow of cash going to the state of Burma is to stop production”. “But as a company we have to abide by the law,” he concluded. Total shareholders heard Pouyanné say the company was obliged to maintain production from its Yadana gas fields to honour contracts signed with PTT, its partner in Thailand which buys much of the gas produced there. “If we decide to stop paying taxes we are not abiding by the law,” he said. “It is a criminal risk and I cannot expose the collaborators of Total in Burma to jail sentences. In this country there is also forced labour in force. So I cannot expose them to this risk.” But the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw and opposition campaigners have called for Total not to suspend gas production, but to put the regime’s share of gas revenues into a protected account until democracy is restored, so that the regime does not have access to the money. Offshore Two days before the AGM, Total and its co-investor Chevron announced that the immensely profitable pipeline which carries Yadana’s gas to Thailand would “suspend” dividend payments to its shareholders. “We listen to the stakeholders. And we have taken the call to limit the income going to the military junta. We have tried everything to reduce this,” the French oil boss told shareholders. The state-owned Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE) is likely to lose about US$40 million a year in dividends as a result. This is because MOGE owns 15 per cent of the company which owns the pipeline, the Bermuda-based Moattama Gas Transportation Company (MGTC). But campaign group, EarthRights International estimates that the suspension of Yadana pipeline dividends amounts to less than 10% of state revenue generated from Total’s Yadana gas project and described the move as “a small step in the right direction.” “A more comprehensive action would be a complete shut-down of revenue-sharing with MOGE - its accounts are controlled by the regime,” EarthRights International wrote in a response on Twitter. Pouyanné rejected suggestions that Total was paying money “offshore” to the military junta, despite the company locating MGTC in Bermuda. He said that Myanmar receives most of its share of gas revenue from Yadana via banks in Thailand. Taxes Total also told investors it stopped developing new potential projects in Myanmar, but the Total boss rejected calls to stop paying taxes to Myanmar while the junta is in charge of the country. “When we pay taxes we don’t pay this to the army. We pay it to a state. We’ve been paying these taxes to the state for 20 years and we continue to do so. And we did so when Madam Aung San Suu Kyi was at the head of Burma.” Pouyanné said it was not accurate for media reports to suggest that by partnering with MOGE it means it is paying Myanmar’s generals. “When you read these newspapers, it sounds like the income is falling right into the pockets of these generals. It is not the case. The state obtains the income. (MOGE) was still in place when democracy was back in Burma.” But campaigners have pointed out that MOGE – like all government agencies in Myanmar – is now under the control of the junta and has to obey its orders. Total, now renamed TotalEnergies, would comply with any sanctions imposed by the United States or European Union, Pouyanné confirmed. Sophie Brondel, coordinator of France-based campaign group Info Birmanie, told Myanmar Now: “Total continues to fund a junta labelled as a murderous criminal enterprise by a UN expert. This has to stop.”..."