• Burmese
Sunday, June 15, 2025
No Result
View All Result
NEWSLETTER
The Irrawaddy
31 °c
Yangon
  • Home
  • News
    • Burma
    • Politics
    • World
    • Asia
    • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
    • Ethnic Issues
    • War Against the Junta
    • Junta Cronies
    • Conflicts In Numbers
    • Junta Watch
    • Fact Check
    • Investigation
    • Myanmar-China Watch
    • Obituaries
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Opinion
    • Commentary
    • Guest Column
    • Analysis
    • Editorial
    • Stories That Shaped Us
    • Letters
  • Junta Watch
  • Ethnic Issues
  • War Against the Junta
  • In Person
    • Interview
    • Profile
  • Books
  • Donation
  • Home
  • News
    • Burma
    • Politics
    • World
    • Asia
    • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
    • Ethnic Issues
    • War Against the Junta
    • Junta Cronies
    • Conflicts In Numbers
    • Junta Watch
    • Fact Check
    • Investigation
    • Myanmar-China Watch
    • Obituaries
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Opinion
    • Commentary
    • Guest Column
    • Analysis
    • Editorial
    • Stories That Shaped Us
    • Letters
  • Junta Watch
  • Ethnic Issues
  • War Against the Junta
  • In Person
    • Interview
    • Profile
  • Books
  • Donation
No Result
View All Result
The Irrawaddy
No Result
View All Result
Home Business

Ethics of MOGE and Gas Money

William Boot by William Boot
September 11, 2012
in Uncategorized
Reading Time: 4 mins read
0 0
A A
Ethics of MOGE and Gas Money

Shell tanker trucks could soon be a common sight in Burma. (Photo: Nachoman-au / WikiMedia)

4k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

“We set high standards of performance and ethical behavior that we apply internationally … according to our core values of honesty, integrity and respect for people and to comply with relevant legislation and regulations.”

Words like these might well be sending a shudder down the corridors of the Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE) as it grapples with pressures from some Western international oil companies for Burma to become more transparently open for business.

The statement is part of Shell’s business standards manifesto and appear to illustrate why Burmese Energy Minister Than Hay recently held back from offering dozens of potentially lucrative licenses to explore for gas and oil.

RelatedPosts

Sagaing Protesters Condemn Civilian Govt Toll Charges

Sagaing Protesters Condemn Civilian Govt Toll Charges

June 14, 2025
341
Tree-Planting Hides Logging Frenzy; Moving Mountains for Steel Production; and More

Tree-Planting Hides Logging Frenzy; Moving Mountains for Steel Production; and More

June 14, 2025
192
Is TNLA, Under Chinese Pressure, Conceding Northern Shan Gateway to the Regime?

Is TNLA, Under Chinese Pressure, Conceding Northern Shan Gateway to the Regime?

June 13, 2025
807

It was thought that more than 40 blocks in offshore territorial waters and onshore areas were going to be announced at the Myanmar Oil Gas and Power in Rangoon earlier this month.

That was before a ministry official declared that a bidding auction would be postponed following Western company calls for domestic industry reforms to match recent political changes in the country.

Companies such as Shell had called for a clear and open explanation of the bidding process, who will be involved and how the sector will be regulated.

Until the military regime moved off stage and political reforms began, virtually all licenses and deals went through MOGE, a well-known tool of the military. The state agency has been denounced by the US government and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi but continues to have a close hand in the industry.

The ministry has suggested that a new round of licenses for offshore and onshore exploration blocks could be offered by the end of the year once Burma’s regulatory process has been overhauled to meet Western standards.

However, industry analysts and Burma observers think it is over-optimistic to expect to be ship-shape by 2013.

“There’s going to have to be some pretty rapid change at MOGE otherwise I cannot see the ministry of energy being able to lay out its offshore blocks portfolio any time soon,” energy analyst Jeff Mead in Hong Kong told The Irrawaddy on Monday.

Others think the delay in offering blocks is a wise move for Burma’s economy in the longer term.

“Quite a few people have been suggesting Burma should have a moratorium on new block licenses to give the government time to make sure these projects are in the national interest, and that the country gets the best deal it can,” said the co-editor of Burma Economic Watch bulletin Sean Turnell, an economist with Australia’s Macquarie University.

“There’s no need to rush, especially since the revenue streams from these projects will be the basis of Burma’s fiscal future—funds to upgrade infrastructure, funds for improvements in health, education [and] also to provide Burma itself with the energy it needs.

“The old regime wanted to sell gas as quickly as it could to raise cash. The new one has a more important, but more complex agenda,” added Turnell.

The much-amended foreign investment law which was agreed by the Burmese Parliament on Sept. 7 will clarify some of the questions the oil businesses had during the Rangoon industry forum last week, but many others remain unanswered.

Western companies that attended the forum were frustrated by the lack of data relating to offshore blocks expected to be offered. MOGE was either unwilling or unable to provide technical answers to questions.

“It’s rather a Catch-22 situation because the government wants or rather needs the Western oil majors for the kind of investment in E&P [exploration and production] that’s needed and the majors want to move into Burma, but not at any price,” Mead said. “They are not willing to run afoul of a still-existing web of US constrictions relating to the military government era and they do not want to invest in blanks.”

MOGE has claimed that Burmese waters hold between 11 trillion and 22 trillion cubic feet, but these are largely unverified figures.

However, not all big international oil firms are squeamish about dealing with MOGE. In recent months, the state oil companies of Malaysia and Thailand—Petronas and PTTEP respectively—have signed exploration contracts, and France’s Total and Japan’s Nippon Oil agreed to buy shares in PTTEP’s large offshore gas prospect in the Gulf of Martaban.

Chinese state firms such as China National Offshore Oil Corporation and China National Petroleum Corporation are also working closely with MOGE.

Questions are still being asked by human rights NGOs about CNPC’s ethical standards towards workers and small landowners as it constructs 900-kilometre gas and oil pipelines through Burma.

“I think Western oil firms do care about MOGE—not necessarily because they are warm and cuddly institutions—but simply because they do have to exist within laws and activism back home,” said Turnell. “They do operate in ways that probably do not bear scrutiny elsewhere, but Burma has a profile on these issues that may not apply to other places.”

Business risk assessor companies have previously cautioned against linking up with MOGE.

Germany-based Transparency International still ranks Burma as one of the world’s most corrupt countries, while the UK risk assessor Maplecroft warned about the lack of institutional infrastructure back in May.

“Despite the growing but cautious enthusiasm amongst investors for an imminent return to Myanmar, businesses need to be aware that significant operational and strategic risks are likely to persist in the short term,” Maplecroft warned in a study.

On Sept. 8 the East Asia Forum, part of the East Asian Bureau of Economic Research, published an article by Turnell warning that Burma’s reforms “are fragile and contingent upon a few key individuals.

“They are also pitched into a business environment that bears all the scars of five decades of misrule: degraded infrastructure, rampant corruption and cronyism, severe capacity constraints in government and policy making bodies, residual human rights abuses and ethnic conflict, a dysfunctional financial sector, and a myriad of other obstacles to a smooth transition.”

These are sobering words for a global oil company with Shell’s nobly-worded ethics code.

Your Thoughts …
William Boot

William Boot

Similar Picks:

Exodus: Tens of Thousands Flee as Myanmar Junta Troops Face Last Stand in Kokang
Burma

Exodus: Tens of Thousands Flee as Myanmar Junta Troops Face Last Stand in Kokang

by Hein Htoo Zan
November 28, 2023
98.3k

Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army troops are opening roads and pathways through forests for people to flee Kokang’s capital as...

Read moreDetails
Burning Alive in Myanmar: Two Resistance Fighters Executed in Public
Burma

Burning Alive in Myanmar: Two Resistance Fighters Executed in Public

by The Irrawaddy
February 7, 2024
89.3k

People’s Defense Force says junta troops told every household in the village to send one member to witness the double...

Read moreDetails
Another Entire Junta Battalion Raises the White Flag in Myanmar’s Northern Shan State
War Against the Junta

Another Entire Junta Battalion Raises the White Flag in Myanmar’s Northern Shan State

by The Irrawaddy
November 29, 2023
87k

Brotherhood Alliance member says it now has complete control of Kokang’s northernmost section after the junta’s Light Infantry Battalion 125...

Read moreDetails
Depleted Myanmar Military Urges Deserters to Return to Barracks
Burma

Depleted Myanmar Military Urges Deserters to Return to Barracks

by The Irrawaddy
December 4, 2023
59k

The junta said deserters would not be punished for minor crimes, highlighting the military’s shortage of troops as resistance offensives...

Read moreDetails
As Myanmar’s Military Stumbles, a Top General’s Dissapearance Fuels Intrigue
Burma

As Myanmar’s Military Stumbles, a Top General’s Dissapearance Fuels Intrigue

by The Irrawaddy
April 19, 2024
46.9k

The junta’s No. 2 has not been seen in public since April 3, sparking rumors that he was either gravely...

Read moreDetails
Enter the Dragon, Exit the Junta: Myanmar’s Brotherhood Alliance makes Chinese New Year Vow
Burma

Enter the Dragon, Exit the Junta: Myanmar’s Brotherhood Alliance makes Chinese New Year Vow

by The Irrawaddy
February 12, 2024
44.7k

Ethnic armed grouping says it will continue Operation 1027 offensive until goal of ousting the junta is achieved. 

Read moreDetails
Load More
Next Post
Govt-backed Inquiry into Arakan Violence Underway

Govt-backed Inquiry into Arakan Violence Underway

Shwe Mann Backs Suu Kyi's Calls for Rule of Law

No Result
View All Result

Recommended

Untested Commander Takes Charge as Myanmar Military Faces Toughest Challenge in Decades

Untested Commander Takes Charge as Myanmar Military Faces Toughest Challenge in Decades

2 days ago
1.1k
How the Myanmar Military’s Propaganda Efforts Have Evolved Over the Decades

How the Myanmar Military’s Propaganda Efforts Have Evolved Over the Decades

4 days ago
1k

Most Read

  • Myanmar Tourism Sector Mocks Junta’s Russia Tourist Drive

    Myanmar Tourism Sector Mocks Junta’s Russia Tourist Drive

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Sagaing Region Braced for Myanmar Junta Airstrikes After Jet Crash

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Untested Commander Takes Charge as Myanmar Military Faces Toughest Challenge in Decades

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Sagaing Protesters Condemn Civilian Govt Toll Charges

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Is TNLA, Under Chinese Pressure, Conceding Northern Shan Gateway to the Regime?

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0

Newsletter

Get The Irrawaddy’s latest news, analyses and opinion pieces on Myanmar in your inbox.

Subscribe here for daily updates.

Contents

  • News
  • Politics
  • War Against the Junta
  • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
  • Conflicts In Numbers
  • Junta Crony
  • Ethnic Issues
  • Asia
  • World
  • Business
  • Economy
  • Election 2020
  • Elections in History
  • Cartoons
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Editorial
  • Commentary
  • Guest Column
  • Analysis
  • Letters
  • In Person
  • Interview
  • Profile
  • Dateline
  • Specials
  • Myanmar Diary
  • Women & Gender
  • Places in History
  • On This Day
  • From the Archive
  • Myanmar & COVID-19
  • Intelligence
  • Myanmar-China Watch
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Food
  • Fashion & Design
  • Videos
  • Photos
  • Photo Essay
  • Donation

About The Irrawaddy

Founded in 1993 by a group of Myanmar journalists living in exile in Thailand, The Irrawaddy is a leading source of reliable news, information, and analysis on Burma/Myanmar and the Southeast Asian region. From its inception, The Irrawaddy has been an independent news media group, unaffiliated with any political party, organization or government. We believe that media must be free and independent and we strive to preserve press freedom.

  • Copyright
  • Code of Ethics
  • Privacy Policy
  • Team
  • About Us
  • Careers
  • Contact
  • Burmese

© 2023 Irrawaddy Publishing Group. All Rights Reserved

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    • Burma
    • Politics
    • World
    • Asia
    • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
    • Ethnic Issues
    • War Against the Junta
    • Junta Cronies
    • Conflicts In Numbers
    • Junta Watch
    • Fact Check
    • Investigation
    • Myanmar-China Watch
    • Obituaries
  • Politics
  • Opinion
    • Commentary
    • Guest Column
    • Analysis
    • Editorial
    • Stories That Shaped Us
    • Letters
  • Ethnic Issues
  • War Against the Junta
  • In Person
    • Interview
    • Profile
  • Business
    • Economy
    • Business Roundup
  • Books
  • Donation

© 2023 Irrawaddy Publishing Group. All Rights Reserved

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.