Myanmar: US Sanctions Junta-Controlled State Oil and Gas Enterprise

Facts

• The US Treasury Department imposed fresh sanctions Tuesday on Myanmar's state-owned Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE). Beginning Dec. 15, Americans and US companies will be prohibited from conducting financial services connected to the military junta-run company, including accounts, insurance, and investments.¹
• The US also added three organizations and five junta officials to the list, including the ministers of industry and investment and foreign economic relations, the director generals of the prosecution and prisons departments, and the chief of general staff for the combined military forces.²
• Sky Royal Hero Company Limited, Suntac Technologies Company Limited, and Suntac International Trading Company Limited have been sanctioned, after being 'designated' as helping the junta import arms and other goods. The Treasury said its goal is to 'close avenues for sanctions evasion.'³
• According to MOGE's own data, the company, which is the primary gatekeeper to the country’s oil and gas assets, brought in $1.72B in the six months leading up to March 31, 2022. The oil and gas enterprise has reportedly helped fund the junta's killing of thousands and arrests of tens of thousands.¹
• Gas companies, including from Thailand, Japan, Malaysia, India, and South Korea, have partnered with MOGE to gain access to its offshore drilling sites in Myanmar-controlled waters. Roughly 50% of the country's foreign income comes from natural gas revenue.²
• This news comes after the US imposed a separate set of sanctions on the junta in June, targeting state-owned Myanmar Foreign Trade Bank (MFTB) and Myanmar Investment and Commercial Bank (MICB), which allowed the regime to use foreign currency to buy jet fuel, parts for small arms production, and other supplies.⁴

Sources: ¹The Guardian, ²ABC News, ³The Irrawaddy and ⁴Reuters.

Narratives

• Pro-establishment narrative, as provided by The Guardian. Since the coup, private US companies have been profiting to the tune of millions from doing business with the Junta, so it's good to see Washington is finally following the EU's footsteps in sanctioning MOGE. When companies like Halliburton, Baker Hughes, and Diamond Offshore Drilling use Myanmar's oil fields, they're helping finance the dictatorship's violent stranglehold on its citizens. Fossil fuel companies can no longer separate 'just doing business' from human cost of that business.
• Establishment-critical narrative, as provided by GrayZone. The US government does more than condemn atrocities and impose sanctions — it also funds pro-Western media outlets to produce desirable coverage of Myanmar. Just as has happened in every other country where it wished to conduct regime change, Washington is using these newspapers to exacerbate the crimes of the junta so it can push preferable international policy. If Washington eventually gets its pro-America leader into Myanmar's government, you can expect the disappearance of 'truth-telling' outlets.

Predictions