Woodside Petroleum Ltd said on Thursday it will leave Myanmar operations due to the deteriorating human rights situation, nearly a year after a coup plunged the Southeast Asian nation into turmoil.
The Australian gas producer will begin a formal process to exit the exploration assets it holds with state-owned Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise and other entities including China National Petroleum Corp and Total.
Woodside said that a non-cash expense associated with the withdrawal would hurt its net profit by around US $138 million in the year 2021, in addition to the US $71 million exploration expense for one of the oil blocks in Myanmar it had flagged earlier.
Given the ongoing situation in Myanmar, we can no longer contemplate Woodside's participation in the development of the A-6 gas resources, nor other future activities in-country, said Woodside Chief Executive Meg O'Neill on Thursday.
Woodside had hoped to deliver much-needed energy to the Myanmar people, but there was no viable option for Woodside to continue its activities. In February of last year, Woodside had said it was cutting its presence in Myanmar after a coup, bringing hundreds of thousands of protesters onto the streets and raising human rights concerns.