Mizzima

The Korean Public Service and Transport Workers' Union- including its KOGAS branch, and the Korean Metal Workers' Union have demanded Korean companies POSCO International & KOGAS rethink its gas field project in Myanmar. 

The unions demand POSCO cease all contractual payments, including dividends from the Myanmar gas field project and re-examine the project through an investigation with appropriate follow-up measures to ensure they are not crimes against humanity in the country.

POSCO International is one of the Myanmar military’s closest international business partners, having a presence in country since 1988, and operates the Shwe gas field off the coast of Arakan State in a profit-sharing agreement with the state-owned Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE). 

The project has been linked to forced relocation, forced labour, militarisation, and sexual abuse. 

Discovered by a POSCO subsidiary in 2004, gas from the field is transported to China by a pipeline that is further linked to land confiscation and conflict. 

POSCO earned US$193.9M in revenue for MOGE in 2017/2018 alone. 

MOGE is now under control of the military junta and gas is the junta's biggest source of revenue.

The Shwe gas project was the Korea Gas Corporation (KOGAS)- a public natural gas company that was established by the Korean government in 1983- first investment in Myanmar. 

Korean unions have also asked KOGAS re-examine its involvement in the Shwe gas project in accordance with Article18 (Reorganisation) 3 of Korea's Subsidiary Management Regulations. 

According to leaked financial data, POSCO International and KOGAS, respectively have shares of 51% and 8.5% in the gas field project, have produced and sold natural gas since 2013 by establishing a consortium with Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE), a national company, and Indian national oil and gas companies.