re!!!! Unocal giving up natural-gas

[cd@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Subject: re!!!! Unocal giving up natural-gas exploration in  Burma

check it out, this from the Financial Times, Friday, April 25, on how us
companies are getting around sanctions: ..."Most of the new investment
was in the oil and gas sector, with offshore
exploration rights held by Unocal and Texaco being converted into
production-sharing contracts.

This distinction is important as the executive order implementing the
new investment ban is expected to allow existing investment contracts to
be fulfilled but not allow them to be expanded, modified or upgraded.
Arco has also been heavily involved in natural gas exploration but it is
unclear whether a production-sharing agreement has been reached."

dawn star
euroburmanet
http://www-uvi.eunet.fr/asia/euro-burma/total/
> 
> From: moe@xxxxxxxxxxxxx (Julien Moe)
> Subject: Unocal giving up natural-gas exploration in  Burma
> 
> Unocal giving up natural-gas exploration in  Burma
>   April 23, 1997
>   10.18 a.m. EDT (1418 GMT)
> 
>   SINGAPORE (AP) -- Unocal Corp., the biggest foreign investor in Burma, said
>   Wednesday it has given up developing two new natural gas fields because of
>   economic sanctions imposed by President Clinton.
> 
>   Washington announced a ban Tuesday on new U.S. investment in Burma,
>   saying its military government has ignored appeals to ease repression and move
>   toward democratic rule. Clinton was expected to sign an order implementing
>   the sanctions later this week.
> 
>   Burmese dissidents are calling for a boycott of business ties to the
> ruling junta,
>   saying foreign investment strengthens its grip on power while doing little to
>   help ordinary Burmese.
> 
>   "We were going to look at one or two additional blocks in the offshore area in
>   the Andaman sea, but it's clear we would not be able to do it,'' John G.
>   Vandermeer, a Unocal vice president for new ventures in South and Southeast
>   Asia, told Dow Jones Newswires.
> 
>   Vandermeer said Unocal also would forgo other investments in Burma, but he
>   declined to give details.
> 
>   The company will go ahead with plans to look for gas southwest of the Yadana
>   field in the the Andaman Sea because it already is committed by a deal signed
>   with the Burmese government in January, he said.
> 
>   A $750 million project to build a gas pipeline and power plant to supply
>   Rangoon, the Burmese capital, also will go forward as planned.
> 
>   "That is an existing project. We have agreements in place on that one,''
>   Vandermeer said. "It's simply one of the number of projects ongoing in the
>   country.''
> 
>   He said, however, that the legal line separating new investments banned by the
>   sanctions from existing projects that are allowed to continue was unclear.
> 
>   "It's something we have to see how the legislation defines,'' he said. "We
> want
>   to work within the law but maintain our commitment to projects and Southeast
>   Asia in general.''