Australia NW Oil Spill, company links to Burma’s military dictatorship? Are we financing the Generals as we pick up the bill for their mess? OP/ED

Atlas West Oil Rig – we know where the oil-spill is going,

West Atlas Oil Spill 1

what about where the profits are going.

Are we helping finance repression in Burma - Myanmar?

The 2007 AP, SMH & Rigzone articles below pose some very disturbing questions about where the profits go from the badly leaking West Atlas Oil Rig.

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Is it possible that our Governments are indirectly financing the illegal Military Junta in Burma/Myanmar and it’s brutal repression.

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Aren’t we meant to be backing UN sanctions against the Generals’ brutal repression and imprisonment of elected leader Aung Saan Suu Kyi?

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Meanwhile we can only wonder at the standards of corporate governance of the operators as “their” oil covers our NW waters, threatening island, reef and mainland ecosystems.

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Excerpts and links to media exposing Burma links are below, including related interview & video from Senator Rachel Siewert.

Click the blue text to see the full story on each

A search of the website Rigzone shows these recent links between the WA Rig’s operator PTTEP and the Generals

PTTEP & CNOOC Ink Asset Swap Deal
NEWS ARTICLE: … of the Union of Myanmar. Under the agreement, the partners comprise PTTEP Myanmar
Limited, a subsidiary of PTTEP with 20% interest. CNOOC Ltd. as the operator …

PTTEP, CNOOC May Discuss Myanmar Gas Block Stake Swap
NEWS ARTICLE: … 24 hours with China National Offshore Oil Corp. about closer business ties that could
include swapping assets in Myanmar, PTTEP’s top executive said Thursday. …

PTTEP May Invest $25 Million in Myanmar Gas Fields
NEWS ARTICLE: Title: PTTEP May Invest $25 Million in Myanmar Gas Fields Date: 8/3/2004 Body: Thailand’s
PTT Exploration and Production PCL may invest $25 million to explore …

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This  2007 AP article from the Star Via AP spells out the economic and political significance of the links

RANGOON’S CORPORATE FRIENDS

TheStar.com | Business | Oil companies fuelling Burma’s junta

Oil companies fuelling Burma’s junta

Foreign firms are fighting for access to untapped energy reserves that some say fund a repressive regime Oct 02, 2007 04:30 AM Thomas Hogue ASSOCIATED PRESS

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From the Sydney Morning Herald, also in 2007 ( how has the structure changed we wonder )

While Burma’s military junta cracks down on pro-democracy protests, oil companies are busy jostling for access to the country’s largely untapped natural gas and oil fields.

Just last Sunday – as marches led by Buddhist monks drew thousands in the country’s biggest cities – Indian Oil Minister Murli Deora was in Burma’s capital Rangoon for the signing of contracts between state-controlled ONGC Videsh Ltd and Burma’s military rulers to explore three offshore blocks.

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Meanwhile, the Governments of Kevin Rudd and Colin Barnett are yet to answer key questions on the lamentable response to the oil disaster by it’s operators, let alone address the issue of profits possibly going to the Generals.

See the link below for the 6PR interview, pictures of the spill taken by the Greens and an interview with Senator Rachel Siewert

Youtube slideshow of the oil slick – also, Kevin Rudd doesn’t even use the word “environment”in his brief spin on air at 6PR with Simon Beaumont (6pr.com.au )

Related articles by Zemanta

• New Myanmar Clashes Leave 1 Dead, Dozens Injured (abcnews.go.com)

• CNOOC First-Half Profit Down 55% on Lower Prices (nytimes.com)

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