FRANCE BACKS TOTAL'S PROJECTS

[moe@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Dow Jones Business News -- March 13, 1997
                                       FEER/Intelligence/Burma: France Backs
Total's
                                       Projects

                                       AP-Dow Jones News Service

                                       RANGOON -- Paris has provided
investment guarantees for French oil giant Total
                                       SA's (F.ITL) projects in Burma,
reports the Far Eastern Economic Review in its
                                       latest edition published Thursday.

                                       The move was prompted by the threat
of U.S. and European Union sanctions against
                                       Rangoon. Total operates a
billion-dollar natural gas project in Burma, including
                                       exploration in the Gulf of Martaban
and a pipeline to Thailand.

                                       The French company owns 31.24% of the
project, while U.S.-based Unocal has
                                       28.26%, the Petroleum Authority of
Thailand 25.5% and Burma's state-owned
                                       Myanmar Oil & Gas Enterprise 15%.

                                       Investors expect to earn $400 million
a year from the project, which is scheduled to
                                       go into operation by mid-1998. Some
50% of the revenue would go to Rangoon and
                                       50% to the foreign partners.

                                       But strong lobbies in the U.S. and
the E.U. are pressing corporations to withdraw
                                       from Burma to protest against
human-rights abuses in that country. The recent
                                       French move indicates that such
sanctions may be imminent.