Transparency group EITI suspends Burma after coup

Global anti-corruption group the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) has suspended Myanmar (Burma) following the military takeover earlier this month.

The EITI said it had suspended Myanmar because of political instability and a lack of essential freedoms.

The group is concerned about the safety of its members in the country and could not envisage working under current circumstances. Restoring an environment in which civil society is able to participate in open debates on governance of the extractive sector will be a factor in any lifting of the suspension, it said.

Myanmar joined the EITI in 2014, as a process of political liberalisation was opening up its oil and gas sector to international investment.

The Oslo-based EITI aims to be the global standard for open and accountable management of oil, gas and mineral resources. It has 55 members, mainly commodity producers in Asia, Africa and Latin America. The UK, Germany and Norway are also members, as was the US until it pulled out of the group in 2017.

Myanmar's suspension from the EITI may add to pressure on global energy firms with investments in the country, which include Total, Chevron and Australian independent Woodside Petroleum. The US government imposed sanctions on individuals involved in the coup last week.

The military takeover and arrest of Myanmar's elected leaders has been met with widespread but so far largely peaceful protests across the country. There is no indication that resources production has suffered any major disruptions, although downstream and midstream firm Puma Energy, which operates Myanmar's largest oil products terminal near the commercial capital of Yangon, said it has suspended operations to protect its employees.

By Kevin Foster